TEHRAN — As Joe Biden is closing in on a full year as the U.S. president, experts say the downfall of Biden is near. Tehran Times explores why.

Joe Biden was elected as the U.S. president on November 3, wining a historic number of popular votes, 81.2 million. But now, his approval rating has hit an all-time low.

According to credible institutions such as Quinnipiac University National Poll conducted on November 18, only 36 percent of the people who took the survey gave a stamp of approval to Biden’s performance. 
According to the conducted poll, Americans say 46 - 38 percent they would want to see the Republican Party win control of the House of Representatives, while 16 percent did not offer an opinion.

But what has accelerated the decline of the 78-year-old president? 

Inflation rate and increasing fuel price have angered the Americans. In October, inflation hit an annual rate of 6.2%, a 30-year high.

The average price per gallon of regular gas at the pump nationally is $3.42, which is $1.31 higher than the level one year ago.

On top of that, tensions between Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden have been growing. 

The Biden-Harris clash seemed inevitable to political experts. Case in point is an article written by Elizabeth Drew in The Atlantic in August 2020, predicting that the duo will inevitably enter rows. 

“If they’re elected, Harris and Biden will eventually clash,” the article predicted. 

In another part of the article, Drew said, “There’s circumstantial evidence that Biden had hesitations about picking Harris, mainly because of her obvious desire to be president.”

This prediction came to life in a year and half, when Biden headed to Walter Reed Medical Center on November 19 to undergo a colonoscopy exam, and he transferred his power to Harris. Experts say that Harris will practice presidency in the meantime. 

Reports from the White House say that Harris is now isolated, as she is feeling she is not getting the same amount of support as others. 

“It’s hard to miss the specific energy that the White House brings to defend a white man, knowing that Kamala Harris has spent almost a year taking a lot of the hits that the West Wing didn’t want to take themselves,” a former Harris assistant told CNN.

Harris’ approval rating has plummeted drastically. A recent poll conducted by USA Today say that Harris has an approval rating of just %28. 

Joel Goldstein, professor of constitutional law emeritus at Saint Louis University and scholar of the American vice presidency, is on the belief that Harris doesn’t have much of a chance to be elected as the president.

“The vice presidency … is a great presidential springboard. It elevates somebody into the ranks of leading contenders. But it doesn't guarantee that somebody is going to be the nominee, it doesn't guarantee that you're going to have a clear field,” he said. 

Amid all these confusions, reports say that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been preparing himself in the dark, and his political passion is ready to be reignited if he ever decides to make another bid for the presidency, according to an official who worked on his 2020 campaign.

The trust has broken down

The main question is this: Why should Iran trust the establishment of a country that is heavily divided?

Iran has been focusing on sanctions-removal negotiations and will enter the November 29 negotiations with seriousness, and with an eye to achieving a “good agreement,” as quoted by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. However, U.S. politicians cannot get their opinions fixated on the Vienna talks. 

Biden’s administration signals a positive attitude in words, but imposes sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities, not paying attention to the fact that this will make its job all the more difficult in Vienna. 

With the withdrawal of the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran will be observant towards another agreement with the United States, especially when the Republicans will most probably come to power. 

On November 19, MSNBC, a Democratic website said, “You don't need a crystal ball to see doom for Democrats in 2022 — just a map,” saying that the GOP will win the majority in the Congress elections. 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had hinted that he will consider running for 2024 elections after monitoring the congressional elections. Now the perspective of Trump 2024 is clearer than ever. Therefore, the U.S. must provide tangible and irreversible guarantees, “if” they want the Vienna talks to succeed.

SA/PA