It’s been somewhat amusing to watch the majority of the mainstream media trying to spin the midterm election results. Some consistent themes we’ve seen on CNN and MSNBC, as well as in the pages of the Washington Post, have been that Americans “rejected” the Republican agenda and – far more importantly – the Bad Orange Man. One might interpret such a view as meaning that voters embraced the Democrats and were satisfied with how they are handling things. But as the latest poll published by the Associated Press clearly shows us, that isn’t the case at all. Joe Biden’s approval rating is still in the toilet, few think that the country is heading in the right direction, and many still doubt that the president still has the cognitive abilities to handle his job.

Fresh off his party’s better-than-anticipated performance in the midterm elections, President Joe Biden is facing consistent but critical assessments of his leadership and the national economy.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 43% of U.S. adults say they approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 55% disapprove. That’s similar to October, just weeks before the Nov. 8 elections that most Americans considered pivotal for the country’s future…

Mishana Conlee said she tries to be optimistic about the coming year, but she thinks things are going to the gutter because “our president is incompetent” and not mentally fit for the White House.

There’s no way to paint any lipstick on this pig and the AP admirably doesn’t even try. A 43% approval rating is slightly better than Biden’s lowest numbers over the past year, but a solid majority including many Democrats still disapprove. The right track/wrong track numbers are even more dismal. Barely a quarter of respondents feel that the country is heading in the right direction and the same percentage described the economy as even being in “good” condition. Almost nobody described it as “excellent.”

A growing number of people have clearly become aware of the major crises we’re currently facing, despite most of the media’s best efforts to ignore or even deceive them about it. Everyone except the very wealthiest experiences the effects of inflation. And news about the energy crisis, the border crisis, and soaring crime rates have made their way into the national consciousness.

Looking at those numbers, it’s even more of a mystery why the GOP didn’t fare better in the midterms. A very solid majority of the country believes that the current leadership is screwing everything up. Numbers like these should have been absolutely toxic for the party in power. And yet the voters largely chose to keep the same people in control with the exception of a relative handful of marginal congressional districts.

My key takeaway from these results is that we’re seeing something that goes beyond the issues of the day and the challenges facing the nation. We’ve long since become aware of how firmly divided the country has become along ideological lines. The number of people who are “persuadable” based on how the government delivers results for them is obviously shrinking. And there are clearly far too many people, particularly on the left, who are sitting at home and thinking, ‘yeah, things are going to hell in a handbasket, but I’m not going help those mega-MAGA jerks take over.’

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a very dire situation for the country to be in. People who are willing to accept the potential decimation of not just our economy, but our entire culture, all in the name of political ideology could actually be our undoing.