Poll after poll suggests that voters’ biggest worries are the very things that Democrats haven’t shown competence in delivering on. A late-October poll by Navigator Research (D) found that while 60 percent of Americans think the economy is a top issue for Pres. Biden and Congress to focus on, just 38 percent feel that the administration and Congress are focused on it.

In an early November poll, CNN asked voters if they thought Pres. Biden has had the right priorities, or if he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. Just 42 percent said he had the right priorities, compared to 58 percent who said he wasn’t focused enough on the most important challenges in front of the country; a 26 point swing in the negative direction since April when a majority (53 percent) thought he was focused on the correct priorities.

When many voters — especially independent voters — already soured and skeptical about Democrats’ ability to handle the big challenges in front of the country, they are more open to arguments that the Democratic Party has lost its way on a host of other issues, including cultural ones. This isn’t to say that voters only disapprove of critical race theory or defund the police now that Democrats are in charge. They’ve been unpopular with many swing voters all along. But, these topics have taken on more salience because Democrats have failed to do the big things well.

We often see this same dynamic in professional sports. When your team is winning, mistakes on the field or fissures within the organization are often overlooked or dismissed. But, when that team starts losing, we hear more about ‘tensions’ in the locker room or a coach’s temper problems.