Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, heading to Iowa for Biden, dismisses president’s low poll numbers

On the eve of Iowa’s Republican caucuses, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday dismissed new national polling showing low job approval for President Joe Biden, saying “the battle hasn’t been joined” until GOP voters pick their nominee.

Pritzker, who is scheduled to be in Des Moines on Monday for the caucuses as a surrogate for Biden’s reelection, acknowledged on ABC’s “This Week” program that former President Donald Trump is the likely GOP nominee based on polling. But he criticized the entire Republican field — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley — as “MAGA Republicans, espousing things that are not good for the American public,” using the shorthand for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“It’s the Republicans that are trying to take your freedoms away. It’s the Republicans that are trying to take away your Social Security and your Medicare. It’s the Republicans that are basically fighting against the working families of America. And it’s Joe Biden who has been lifting up the economy,” Pritzker said. “Things are getting better in this country and over the course of an election year, as the economy continues to improve, you’re going to see (Biden’s) poll numbers improve too.”

“Not until (Republicans) choose a nominee will we truly be in this battle. And then it’s a choice,” Pritzker said.

A new ABC-Ipsos poll released Sunday found Biden with an approval rating of 33%, worse than Trump’s 36% low during his presidency. Asking poll respondents to look back at Trump’s presidency, 41% approved of how he handled the job. One-third of poll respondents held a favorable opinion of Biden while 35% had a favorable view of Trump. The survey of 2,228 adults, conducted Jan. 4-8, had an error margin of 2.5%.

Pritzker, a member of Biden’s national advisory board, is scheduled to join the board’s co-chair, movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, in representing the Biden campaign at a news conference in Iowa’s capital city on Monday.

With concerns about Biden’s age of 81 persisting, even among Democrats, Pritzker sought to rephrase questions about the president to instead tout the concept that as Biden has gotten older he’s attained more wisdom, experience and empathy. The poll showed only 28% said Biden has the mental sharpness required of the presidency compared to 47% for Trump, who is 77 years old.

“Maybe we ought to start by just acknowledging that Joe Biden has years of experience, that when you talk about someone’s age, you’re also talking about the wisdom that they gained over many years and how they’ve demonstrated their empathy that they’ve learned from so many experiences,” Pritzker said.

“Joe Biden, and Donald Trump are roughly the same age,” Pritzker said. “Do you think Donald Trump has learned empathy in his life? He has not. Joe Biden has demonstrated it at every turn.”

With Chicago receiving more than 38,000 migrants from the border, according to city figures reported Friday, Pritzker blamed Republican intransigence in Congress for not working toward comprehensive immigration reform as well as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for engaging in a “political game” of sending migrants to Democratic cities undergoing severe winter weather conditions.

“He doesn’t care about the migrants. He doesn’t care about the fact that they’re going to suffer if they’re sent to certainly the Upper Midwest, as he is doing now,” Pritzker said.

But Pritzker also acknowledged that while Congress needs to act, “I think that the president needs to do more.”

Of the Republican contenders for president, Pritzker noted that “it doesn’t look good for the people who are running against Donald Trump” but said he thinks the GOP race will continue “for perhaps another month or two before there is really a clear front-runner.” The respected Iowa Poll, published last week by the Des Moines Register, showed Trump leading among likely caucusgoers with 48%, trailed by Haley with 20% and DeSantis with 16%.

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria became the last of Illinois’ three Republican House members to endorse Trump for president. U.S. Reps. Mary Miller of Hindsboro and Mike Bost of Murphysboro previously backed the former president.

Bost is facing a March primary contest against unsuccessful 2022 GOP governor candidate Darren Bailey of Xenia. Both Bost and Bailey also are running as Trump-nominating delegates and each has sought the former president’s endorsement for Congress.

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