Top pollster Scott Rasmussen’s goal is to explain his data in understandable terms, especially to those who may not be comfortable with reality.

Right after President Joe Biden gave a speech on vaccine mandates, Rasmussen found that 54% of voters liked and supported the mandates. However, Rasmussen said in our exclusive interview that when asked about the handling of these mandates, “only 21% said, ‘by the federal government.’ A majority said ‘either by companies or by individuals.’” Rasmussen concluded that people liked vaccines and mandates, but when they are presented with new information, such as their effects on the supply chain crisis, firefighters, healthcare workers, and police, they think twice.

Only about 10% of the electorate “live and breathe” the news, but the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle accelerated Biden’s decline due to its embarrassing nature. Rasmussen said:

“I think it's healthy that people have more important things to do in their lives. [The electorate responds] to real-world rather than political things. [Afghanistan] broke through, even if you weren't a political junkie. We polled right before and after it happened; the numbers shifted. What [Afghanistan] did was shake the perception of Joe Biden [administration] as ‘adults back in the room.’ We voted him in for his foreign policy knowledge because he wasn't Trump. The illusion of competence is gone. Every time something else goes wrong [such as high gas prices], it will reinforce that.’”

Just as these polls are bad news for Biden, other polls have good news for Republicans. While states such as Texas, Arizona, and Georgia seem to be trending away from Republicans, Rasmussen believes otherwise.

“They are still leaning [red],” Rasmussen said. "Democrats have made a terrible miscalculation with Hispanic voters, presenting this notion of persons of color all being the same. It is not a coalition that exists in the real world. What we've lost in that narrative is there have always been divisions in America. People from Poland, Italy, Ireland, Jews, [and even Catholics] were not considered white [in the last century]. Now, about one-fifth [of] marriages are mixed. Ten percent of voters can't claim an ethnic mix, their heritage being ‘American.’ It's come a long way.”

Marc Ang (marc@aib2b.org) is a community organizer in Southern California and the founder of Asian Industry B2B. Ang's book, “Minority Retort," will be released in early 2022.