Democrat Gov. Says Trump, Republicans Have ‘Poisoned’ The System, Responsible For Low

The low support for President Joe Biden’s re-election bid is not due to his own record or age, but because former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have “poisoned” the system — according to the Democratic governor of Minnesota. 

During his appearance on NBC News’s “Meet The Press” with host Chuck Todd, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) brushed aside the lack of support for Biden and said the election will not be a referendum on Biden’s age, but on the importance of “the democracy.” 

“I think it’s our system. I think Donald Trump and the Republican Party have poisoned it to people,” Walz said when asked why fewer people want Biden to run again than former President Trump. “No one trusts our institutions, no one trusts Congress, no one trusts any of us, because all they do is attack our families do those types of things.”

Walz went on to say that if Democrats want “reproductive freedoms,” an aggressive climate agenda, and even “decency in the White House,” Biden is their man. 

During the 2020 campaign, Democrats often said electing Biden would be putting “decency” back into the White House, and Biden himself tweeted at the time that he would bring “honor and decency” back to Washington. However, during Biden’s term, cocaine was discovered in the West Wing and a transgender-identifying activist went topless on the White House lawn, drawing many to point out the hypocrisy in those promises. 

Walz said he spent last weekend on Mackinac Island in Michigan with Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Democrat Governor Tony Evers talking about how “to make sure that we win this for Joe Biden” in the Midwest. 

“The fact of the matter is, this isn’t about Joe Biden’s age,” Walz said. “This is about the democracy. And they’ll – as we get closer to the election, they’ll see that.” 

Walz also defended the president’s handling of the economy — an issue where Biden consistently polls low — brushing the issue off as a “global phenomenon” and placing partial blame on the COVID pandemic. 

“The Biden agenda has actually done more to tame inflation, to start to bring back manufacturing, to focus on high-tech chip industry, and to focus on climate change and infrastructure than any other country in the world,” Walz said. 

Despite this, just 36% of Americans approve of how Biden has handled the economy, according to an Associated Press/NORC poll. In that same poll, 42% of Americans approved of Biden’s performance as president overall. A Yahoo News/YouGov poll from July found that a majority of Americans don’t want Biden to run again — 53% of Democrats want Biden as the nominee, while 35% want someone else, the New York Post reported. 

Voters also aren’t as dismissive of Biden’s age as Walz appears to be, with 68% of voters in a June ABC News poll worried about the president’s health and 55% saying it was a “major” concern.