Two months ago, as Americans began their summer vacations, the political landscape looked bleak for Joe Biden and his Democrats.
Inflation was soaring; the president's popularity was sinking. Political forecasters said a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in November's congressional election looked almost foreordained. A GOP takeover of the Senate appeared in reach, too, which would doom Biden to two years of partisan gridlock.
By last week, the climate had changed. Biden's popularity, while still well below 50%, had struggled back toward respectability. Polls from The Wall Street Journal and CBS News suggested that the November election was tightening — not enough to give Democrats much confidence, but enough to throw a scare into Republicans.
