每日英語跟讀 Ep.K282: The Disconnect Between Biden’s Popular Policies and His Unpopularity

Over the past few years, many Democrats argued that there was a simple secret to electoral success: enact popular legislation.

過去幾年，許多民主黨人認為想要選舉成功有一個簡單的秘訣，即制定受歡迎的法案。

President Joe Biden tried to make that theory a reality. He enacted a big stimulus plan, a bipartisan infrastructure bill and has made progress toward pushing through an ambitious $2 trillion spending bill that has finally passed the House.

美國總統拜登試圖讓這一理論成為現實。他制定一項大規模經濟刺激計畫，一項兩黨都支持的基礎設施法案，並在推動一項雄心勃勃2兆美元支出法案上取得了進展，該法案最終在眾議院通過。

But so far, popular policies haven’t made for a popular president. His approval ratings have slipped into the mid-40s, even though virtually all of his legislation commands majority support in the same surveys. In poll after poll, voters seem to give Biden no credit for his agenda. They say he hasn’t accomplished much. They even say he hasn’t helped them personally, even though he sent direct stimulus payments to most households and even more to parents.

但到目前為止，受歡迎的政策還未造就受歡迎的總統。他的支持率已下滑至四十多趴，即便他的所有立法在同樣調查中幾乎都獲得多數支持。在一次又一次的民調中，選民似乎沒有因拜登的政策而給他功勞。他們說他沒有取得多大成就，甚至說他沒有親自幫助他們，即便他向大多數家庭甚至是更多父母直接發放了經濟振興紓困金。

If anything, voters say he’s made things worse.

其實，還有選民說他讓事情變更糟。

The disconnect between Biden’s popular policies and his personal unpopularity is a little hard to understand. After all, voters do care about the issues. They’ve proved it by gradually sorting into ideologically divided parties over the past two decades. And it’s clear that presidents can be punished for advancing an unpopular agenda. Just ask Barack Obama about the period after the Affordable Care Act was passed.

拜登受歡迎的政策和個人不受歡迎之間的脫節，有點讓人難理解。畢竟，選民確實關心這些問題。過去20年，他們逐漸劃分意識形態分裂的政黨，就證明這一點。很明顯，總統可能會因為推動不受歡迎的政策而遭懲罰。只要問問歐巴馬有關「可負擔健保法」通過後那段時期的情況就知道了。

But if voters often punish a president for pushing unpopular policies, they rarely seem to reward a president for enacting legislation. Instead, voters seem to reward presidents for presiding over peace and prosperity — in a word, normalcy.

如果選民經常懲罰一個推動不受歡迎政策的總統，他們似乎很少會因為總統制定法案而予以獎勵。相對的，選民似乎會獎勵總統帶來和平與繁榮，換句話說，帶來常態。

Today, Biden is not seen as presiding over the long-promised return to normalcy. Maybe that will change in the months ahead. But Biden’s policy agenda is not expected to do much to help his approval rating so long as Americans do not believe that agenda responds to the most immediate issues facing the country.

目前，人們認為拜登並未帶領大家重返承諾已久的常態。也許情況在未來幾個月會改變。但是，只要美國人不認為拜登政策回應了國家面臨的最急迫問題，他的政策就不會對他的支持率有太大幫助。

The predominance of the economy in American public opinion is one of those basic and seemingly obvious findings of political science that is still somewhat hard to fully internalize. That’s partly because it’s at odds with how most individual voters — and especially politically engaged voters — think about politics. Most people back their party through the worst economic times; even the fastest economic growth wouldn’t persuade them to back the president of the other party.

經濟在美國公眾輿論的主宰地位，是政治科學中基本且看似明顯的發現之一，但仍然有點難以讓人完全接納，部分是因為這跟多數個別選民對政治的看法不一致，尤其是積極參與政治的選民。大多數人在經濟最糟糕時期仍支持他們的政黨，即便是最快速的經濟成長，也無法說服他們支持另一個黨的總統。Source Article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5953373