Joe Biden has a problem of his own making ahead of the midterms

Claiming the opposition has no political plan while your own still needs time to come to fruition is risky, writes Chris Stevenson

‘I think people are going to show up and vote like they did last time,’ said President Biden (AP)

Joe Biden has a problem a little more than two weeks before the midterm elections.

The generic congressional ballot – essentially the question: do voters want Republicans or Democrats in Congress? – has swung back in favour of the Republicans after an uplift for the Democrats in the summer.

The political analysts at FiveThirtyEight had it flipping in recent days so that it now stands at 45.1 per cent to 44.7 per cent. That is after the Democrats held a lead of at least 0.1 per cent since early August. The average of polls at RealClearPolitics has a larger lead for the GOP at 47.8 per cent to 44.7 per cent, with the Republicans having built that lead since the end of September.