THE BATTLEFIELD IS EXPANDING: Virginia now a battleground as Trump surges — and Biden’s failures drag Dems down.
Virginia has gone blue in every presidential election since 2008.
Four years ago Trump lost the state to Joe Biden by 10 points.
Nobody considered Virginia — and its 13 electoral votes — a battleground this year.
Late last month a Roanoke College poll found Trump and Biden tied, 42% to 42%.
Biden was already looking anemic in a January poll by Virginia Commonwealth University, which had him ahead by just 3 points.
What’s happening in Virginia is that the Democrats’ coalition is cracking even as Biden’s gruesome foreign-policy record helps heal divisions within the GOP.
Trump is in a position to win “NeverTrump Republicans” — or NearlyNeverTrumpers — for the first time, while Biden is losing ground with the rural and working-class whites Democrats still need to win in places like Virginia.
That Wall Street Journal story about Biden’s good days/bad days senescence forced every news outlet to finally address the senility issue, even if it was only in the context of griping about the Wall Street Journal story. While there might not have been anything there that people didn’t at least suspect, the insider details were new — and devastating.
Whatever effect the WSJ’s report is having on Biden’s support, it’s too soon for it to show up in the polls. And almost like clockwork, Biden suffered a series of embarrassing brain freezes at the D-Day anniversary ceremony, broadcast live around the world.
Time is running short to change perceptions about Biden but, more importantly, perhaps aside from a jacked-up debate performance later this month, he’s no longer up to doing the job himself.
As always, don’t get cocky.