U.S. President Joe Biden launches a coast-to-coast tour this week to tout the new climate and tax bill and boost Democrats running in November's elections. But when he arrives, some of those candidates may be nowhere in sight, fearing Biden is too much of a liability.
Democrats hope the trip will boost the president's poor poll numbers and draw attention to his achievements. But some candidates for Congress worry that campaigning with Biden will hurt them in the Nov. 8 election, according to more than a dozen interviews with senior Democrats and local campaign officials in battleground states including Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Biden, whose latest approval rating is 40%, is polling lower than most, if not all, Democratic candidates in competitive races, often by double digits, Democratic pollsters said.