At the factory in Troy, Alabama, Biden (left) looks at the production of anti-tank missiles.
(Photo: Reuters)
new York The marching band plays marching music inside the Lockheed Martin factory as Joe Biden strides past them onto the stage between Made in America flags with the US crest on them. Adorning the stage behind him are several Javeline anti-tank guided missiles made by workers here in Alabama.
The US President has traveled to Troy, in the southern state of Alabama, to celebrate his Ukraine policy and safeguarding US jobs.
“Thanks! You’re making a difference in people’s lives,” he calls to the staff, and tells of Ukrainians naming their newborns after the anti-missile missiles that caused so much damage to the Russians. “We are delivering 5,500 Javelines to Ukraine,” he says. And along the way, “we secure well-paying jobs here in America,” he adds.
For Biden, such images are important. With the midterm elections coming up in November in the US, the government faces a difficult task: Given the billions that are currently flowing into Ukraine, Biden must convince Americans that the spending is also in their interests.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Biden wants Congress to approve a total of $33 billion for arms sales and other aid to Ukraine by the end of September. That’s only $7 billion less than the average annual cost of the war in Afghanistan. You have to explain to voters why such sums are justified.
The message is: the local economy will also benefit.
(Photo: Reuters)
On Sunday, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, traveled to Kyiv to pledge her support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pictures of the US politician dressed in an elegant blue suit with Zelensky in olive green show the world how important Ukraine is to the US government.
“Your fight is our fight,” Pelosi assured the Ukrainian president. “And our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is over.”
Nancy Pelosi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Foreign policy is a sensitive issue in the election campaign: On the one hand, there is the widespread belief that foreign policy in America does not win elections. Especially in times of record inflation, many voters may be more concerned about their own finances than the war in Ukraine. Unlike September 11, 2001 and Afghanistan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses no immediate threat to the Americans.
On the other hand, US voters generally do not like to switch parties in the middle of a war. At least that applies to presidential elections. George W. Bush, for example, was re-elected despite initially poor polls when he was waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Americans support sanctions and arms shipments, but not Biden
Biden is also currently struggling with weak poll numbers. In the most recent ABC and Washington Post poll, just 42 percent of Americans were satisfied with their job. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump also had similarly poor poll numbers at the same time and lost the midterm elections a few months later.
The reason for the bad values at Biden is above all the high inflation, which has reached the highest level in 40 years. Ninety-four percent said they are concerned about high prices, and respondents have far less confidence in Democrats than Republicans on this issue.
It is still unclear how the war in Ukraine will affect the election. True, two months after the start of the war, almost three quarters of Americans support sanctions against Russia and support military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Still, only 42 percent of respondents in the ABC poll were satisfied with how Biden is handling the situation in Ukraine.
The US is supporting Ukraine with arms sales worth billions.
(Photo: AP)
In Alabama at Lockheed Martin, the US President presents himself as a politician with experience of war. “I’ve been in the theaters of war where these Javelines made a difference,” says Biden. He wants to emphasize that he knows what he’s talking about. “If you haven’t seen it out there, you don’t understand the difference it makes.”
He uses his appearance in front of the workers to promote the $33 billion package for Ukraine. Because everything else wouldn’t be cheaper, he warns: “If we cave in to Russian aggression, it would cost us much more in the long run!”
More: How the US is slowing down Ukrainian refugees.