White House press secretary Jen Psaki appeared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion taking place in Ukraine along with President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address.
Ahead of the Tuesday speech, Biden faces plummeting approval ratings with the latest polls showing only 37% approval against a 55% disapproval rating. In addition, a Washington Post and ABC poll also found that 54% of Americans do not think Biden has the mental sharpness to serve as president against 40% of Americans who do. Fifty-nine percent of Americans also said that they do not think Biden is a strong leader.
It was this poll that host George Stephanopoulos referenced when asking Psaki about Biden’s response.
“The president is approaching his State of the Union in a pretty difficult political position right now, 37% approval rating, Democrats trailing badly in the midterm polling,” Stephanopoulos said. “A majority in our recent poll out this morning even question the president’s mental capacity. How is he going to turn that around on Tuesday night? And how much has his State of the Union been changed by this war in Ukraine?”
Psaki did not respond to accusations on Biden’s mental capacity but instead focused on Biden’s State of the Union address.
“You know, George, there’s no question that the State of the Union the American people and anybody watching around the world will hear the president talk about the efforts he has led over the past several months to build a global coalition to fight against the autocracy and the efforts of President Putin to invade a foreign country. That is certainly something that’s present in all our lives and certainly in the president’s life in this moment,” Psaki said.
She also insisted that Biden will focus on the “optimism” and “resilience” of the American people, comparing Biden’s position to other U.S. presidents.
“And you know, George, from covering State of the Unions for some time, that it is about delivering a message to the public at a moment in time,” Psaki said. “And if you look back when President Obama gave his first State of the Union, it was during the worst financial crisis in a generation. When President Bush gave his first State of the Union, it was shortly after 9/11.”
