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President Biden is slated to make a prime-time “soul of the nation” speech on Thursday ahead of midterm ballots, as historians warn America’s democracy is teetering–and persuadable voters are leaning Democrat.
President Joe Biden will deliver a prime-time speech on Thursday at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, ahead of voters preparing to cast ballots in the midterms, NBC reported.
The talk will focus on “the continued battle for the soul of the nation,” a White House official said regarding Biden’s address on Thursday. The president will lay out how America’s democracy and standing in the world are at stake. Biden will highlight America’s progress under his leadership over the past two years while noting that rights and freedoms remain at risk. “He will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy,” the White House official said.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden was given a nearly two-hour private history lesson from a group of academics who were raising the alarm about the dire condition of democracy in America and abroad, according to a report by the Washington Post, republished on the Bend Bulletin.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the president “values hearing from a wide range of experts.”
According to the report, the experts urged Biden to lean into speaking about his administration’s efforts to battle inflation and to create a sharp policy contrast with Republicans. The president was also encouraged to take a longer view of American history–beyond the Trump era–and look at what made some presidencies more successful than others.
Despite frequent claims by Republicans that a “red wave” is coming in November, the most recent NBC poll finds that November’s upcoming elections do not look like a traditional midterm. According to the poll, persuadable voters are leaning toward the party now controlling the White House and Congress. This is unlike what occurred in 2018 or 2010. “Persuadable voters” are defined as those representing roughly 25% of registered voters who are not for Democrats or Republicans – meaning hard independents or people who aren’t reliable party backers.
From January through May, Republicans were ahead by six points among persuadable voters, but in this month’s poll, Democrats are now up by 3 points among these voters, 40%-37%, NBC reported.
