Fight Theory

Polls show that many of the policies enacted by President Biden are popular. His measures to reduce the cost of insulin and other drugs receive support from more than 80 percent of Americans. His infrastructure bill, his hawkish approach to China and his all-of-the-above energy policy, which combines expanded oil drilling with clean-energy subsidies, are popular, too.

But voters obviously like some of his policies more than others. And an unusual pattern seems to be hurting Biden’s re-election campaign: Voters are less aware of his most popular policies than his more divisive ones.

The chart below captures the pattern. It is based on a poll last year by YouGov and Blueprint that asked voters, in separate questions, whether they supported various policies and whether they were aware that Biden had enacted them:

Canceling student debt and sending aid to Ukraine, for example, receive majority support, but not overwhelming support. Those are also among the policies that voters know best.

Increasing police funding and capping Medicare costs, by contrast, are extremely popular — and somewhat obscure. “We have found this disconnect between what voters care about and what they think Biden cares about,” said Evan Roth Smith of Blueprint, a Democratic research group.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll try to make sense of the disconnect, with help from an idea that a political strategist recently explained to me: fight theory.