Joe Biden on back foot as the Republican wave swells

President Joe Biden pulled out the stops to mobilise US voters in defence of democracy, hoping to counter a Republican ‘red wave’ in this week’s mid-terms.

Joe Biden campaigns with New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who is being run close by Republican Lee Zeldin, in Yonkers on Sunday. Picture: AFP

President Joe Biden pulled out the stops on Sunday (Monday AEDT) to mobilise US voters in defence of democracy, hoping to counter a Republican “red wave” in this week’s mid-terms that could help set Donald Trump on a course back to the White House.

“If you all show up and vote, democracy sustained, not a joke,” the 79-year-old told a rally in upstate New York – historically Democratic territory – with two days to go until Tuesday’s (Wednesday AEDT) vote.

“This is your generation’s moment to defend it. To preserve it. To choose it,” Mr Biden told the audience at St Lawrence University, recalling last year’s assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters refusing to accept defeat.

At the southern end of the ­Atlantic coast, in Miami, Mr Trump held a competing rally in support of Florida Republican candidates but his own political future was more front and centre.

“I will probably have to do it again,” teased the 76-year-old, urging supporters to “stay tuned”.

Carrying signs saying “Again!” the crowd yelled back “Four more years”.

Polls in the final stretch put Republicans ahead in the fight for the House of Representatives, and also show them gaining momentum in key Senate races as voters seek to take out frustration over four-decades-high inflation and rising illegal immigration.

Tens of millions of Americans have already cast early ballots, but bringing out the vote on Tuesday is likely to prove decisive.

With all 435 seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs alongside a third of the 100-member Senate and a slew of state posts, Democrats were putting a brave face on their prospects but the latest polls have put them on the defensive.

“This is going to be a wake-up call to President Biden,” said Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor of Virginia, saying his camp was offering “commonsense solutions” to everyday ­issues like inflation and crime.

US mid-term elections are typically seen as a referendum on the president in power, whose party tends to lose seats in congress, particularly if – as with Mr Biden – the president’s approval rating is under 50 per cent.

Worryingly for Democrats, a new NBC News poll found 72 per cent of voters believed the country was headed in the wrong direction, to 21 per cent who saw it as being on the right track.

With Mr Trump doubling down on voting conspiracy theories, and candidates in his camp casting doubt on the upcoming results, party chair Ronna McDaniel sought to assure voters that Republicans would accept the outcome, even if they lost.

“They will,” she told CNN Sunday, when the question was put to her directly.

Mr Biden has called out Trumpists’ growing embrace of election conspiracy theories as a cause for deep concern, warning at a rally in Philadelphia that “democracy is literally on the ballot” and calling it “a defining moment for the nation.” There is little indication his dire warnings have turned the tables in his favour, with polls suggesting Democrats have struggled to convince voters on hip pocket issues central to the election.

Democrats have pushed back against the narrative of an inevitable Republican takeover of congress. “We’re going to hold this majority,” congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who heads the Democratic congressional campaign arm, told NBC, saying Mr Biden unfairly received a “bum rap” for inflation and too little credit for successes like job growth.

Mr Biden’s choice of destination on Sunday – to support New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, who faces an unexpectedly strong Republican challenge to re-election – is a sign of just how nervous his camp has grown.

AFP