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Words at the Well

Here for the Hard Parts of Happily Ever After

KL Loveology 2023 Masthead Tile (Feb. 6)

AZMARIN, Syria (AP) &nbsp;— &nbsp;A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkey and Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing more than 2,300 people. Hundreds were still believed to be trapped under rubble, and the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched mounds of wreckage in cities and towns across the area.On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy night. Buildings were reduced to piles of pancaked floors, while major aftershocks, some nearly as strong as the first, continued.Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed, and patients, including newborns, were evacuated from facilities in Syria.In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home were toppled. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers tried to reach him, said the resident, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus.“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “Hopefully, we will leave these disastrous days behind us in unity and solidarity as a country and a nation.”The quake, which was centered north of the Turkish provincial capital of Gaziantep, was felt as far away as Cairo. It sent residents of Damascus rushing into the street, and jolted awake people in their beds in Beirut.It struck a region that has been shaped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, the swath affected is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from that conflict.The opposition-held regions in Syria are packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the fighting. Many of them live in buildings that are already wrecked from past bombardments. Hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization, called the White Helmets, said in a statement.Strained health facilities and hospitals were quickly filled with wounded, rescue workers said. Others had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization.The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in a similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999. The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday's quake at 7.8. At least 20 aftershocks followed, authorities said, including one that measured 7.5.Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast. A hospital collapsed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskenderun, but casualties were not immediately known, his vice president, Fuat Oktay, said.Televisions stations in Turkey aired screens split into four or five, showing live coverage from rescue efforts in the worst-hit provinces. In the city of Kahramanmaras, rescuers pulled two children alive from the rubble, while others tried to reach a relative.Offers of help — from search-and-rescue teams to medical supplies and money — poured in from dozens of countries, as well as the European Union and NATO.The damage evident from photos of the affected areas is typically associated with a significant loss of life — while bitterly cold temperatures and the difficulty of working in areas beset by civil war will only complicate rescue efforts, said Dr. Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards at Nottingham Trent University.In Turkey, people trying to leave the quake-stricken regions caused traffic jams, hampering efforts of emergency teams trying to reach the affected areas. Authorities urged residents not to take to the roads. Mosques around the region were opened to provide shelter for people unable to return to damaged homes amid temperatures that hovered around freezing.The quake heavily damaged Gaziantep’s most famed landmark, its historic castle perched atop a hill in the center of the city. Parts of the fortresses’ walls and watch towers were leveled and other parts heavily damaged, images from the city showed.In Diyarbakir, hundreds of rescue workers and civilians formed lines across a mountain of wreckage, passing down broken concrete pieces, household belongings and other debris as they searched for trapped survivors while excavators dug through the rubble below.In northwest Syria, the quake added new woes to the opposition-held enclave centered on the province of Idlib, which has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government airstrikes. The territory depends on a flow of aid from nearby Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense described the situation there as “disastrous.”Osama Abdelhamid, who was being treated for injuries at a hospital in Idlib, said most of his neighbors died. He said their shared four-story building collapsed just as he, his wife and three children ran toward the exit. A wooden door fell on them and acted as a shield.“I was reborn, thank God,” he said.In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in Syira said the earthquake has caused some damage to the Crusader-built Marqab, or Watchtower Castle, on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. Part of a tower and parts of some walls collapsed.The USGS said the quake was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Gaziantep. It was 18 kilometers (11 miles) deep.More than 900 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with more than 5,400 injured, according to Turkey's president. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed over 330 people, with some 1,000 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In rebel-held areas, more than 200 people were killed, according to the White Helmets, though the SAMS medical organization put the toll at more than 135; both said hundreds were hurt.Huseyin Yayman, a legislator from Turkey's Hatay province, said several of his family members were stuck under the rubble of their collapsed homes.“There are so many other people who are also trapped,” he told HaberTurk television by telephone. “There are so many buildings that have been damaged. People are on the streets. It’s raining, it’s winter.”

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eople and rescue teams try to reach trapped residents inside collapsed buildings.

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The quake, was centered north of the Turkish provincial capital of Gaziantep, Hours later a 7.5 magnitude quake struck more than 60 miles away.

Prayers Are Needed: A Powerful 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Turkey and Syria, At least 2,300 Lives Lost  

“It’s really light or death for many of these churches and families right now,” as the harsh Ukrainian winter makes living conditions even harder for families whose homes have no power to stay warm or even cook. “Many of these families are shivering in the dark,” shares Dave Donaldson, the co-founder of <a href="https://cityserve.us/ukrainian-crisis/">CityServe International</a>. The ministry is actively bringing in generators and food to keep people alive as Russian forces continue to shell power facilities and cut-off supply routes.&nbsp;Churches Making Hope HappenWorking with 1,800 Ukrainian churches, “These churches have become literal lighthouses,” empowered with electricity to help residents, and of course, the powerful life-giving light of Jesus. As daily life feels “very dark and desperate…at the same time, Jesus has been building his church and these churches are thriving. These pastors are brave – they refuse to give up their church. They refuse to leave. And a result, you are seeing thousands of people that are convening in these churches, worshipping, they have hope. They’re believing that this war will end, but ultimately that God is in control. He has not left them. It is his church. They are his people, and he is going to protect them. So, there’s a lot of optimism and hope in the midst of so much darkness!”&nbsp;<a href="https://soundcloud.com/emf-public-affairs-audio/we-cant-forget-ukrainians-cityserve-brings-3m-meals-generators-hope?si=c0a22181acde42fba40dacc6ffdc770c&amp;utm_source=clipboard&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=social_sharing">Our full interview podcast</a>Critical Need&nbsp;So far, two million meals have been provided for hungry Ukrainians, many living in damaged homes, or no homes at all. Some of the food is by way of hot meals cooked locally, other nutrition is pre-packaged food provided in partnership with No Child Hungry, which comes from the United States. Ivanka Trump has blessed the project, in one case paying for food, shipping, and handling at no cost to the ministry. “And we have another million meals that is in the pipeline that was packed by Grand Canyon University,” a Christian college based in Arizona, explains Donaldson.<figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41989.jpg" alt="Grand Canyon University students pack meals for Ukraine"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Grand Canyon University ] Grand Canyon University students pack meals for Ukraine</figcaption></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41988.jpg" alt="Ivanka Trump serves Ukrainian refugees"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: CityServe International] Ivanka Trump serves Ukrainian refugees</figcaption></figure>Mental Health – Action Plan&nbsp;As Dave’s team crisscrossed Ukraine, church leaders told him, “One of the greatest needs is to deal with the trauma” people are experiencing. “You have a lot of young women that are now widows…and many don’t even know if their husbands are still alive. You also have the elderly who have been traumatized and military who have PTSD.” To address this CityServe is planning a trauma conference in August to train Ukrainian pastors and community leaders for trauma counseling. “And with the help of leaders like Troy Duhon, who was the executive producer of God’s Not Dead and Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty, we’re going to be building a Family Trauma Center in Kyiv that is going to help hundreds of thousands of these people that are suffering from the trauma.”<figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41990.jpg" alt="Dave Donaldson with Ukrainian mother"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: CityServe International ] Dave Donaldson with Ukrainian mother</figcaption></figure>One Major Concern“It’s one of my deep concerns, frankly, I call it compassion fatigue. This war has been going on for a year, so if we’re not careful,” things we see from the war zone, “will no longer move us to pray and to give. And I believe that’s one of the greatest threats to these people.”&nbsp;Donaldson is also concerned about misinformation that can impact public opinion. From his heart, “If we do support these churches, I believe we’re going to see one of the greatest revivals in Ukraine – and then it’s going to spill out over into Europe.”&nbsp;More To Learn:&nbsp;<ul><li>Creative Low-Cost Housing for Ukrainians</li><li>Putin “Is Delusional” – What Dave Would Tell the Russian Leader&nbsp;</li><li>And How CityServe Got its Beginning, a Personal Story from Dave’s Heart</li></ul>In our complete podcast interview just below:&nbsp;<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://soundcloud.com/emf-public-affairs-audio/we-cant-forget-ukrainians-cityserve-brings-3m-meals-generators-hope?si=c0a22181acde42fba40dacc6ffdc770c&amp;utm_source=clipboard&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=social_sharing"></oembed></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41991.jpg" alt="Food distribution in Ukraine"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: CityServe International] Food distribution in Ukraine</figcaption></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41324.jpg" alt="Emergency workers carry an injured woman after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building on Saturday in Dnipro, Ukraine"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Yevhenii Zavhorodnii] Emergency workers carry an injured woman after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building on Saturday in Dnipro, Ukraine</figcaption></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://emfservices.azureedge.net/news/41801.jpg" alt="A woman carries her child as they evacuate from a residential building which was hit by a Russian rocket at the city center of Kharkiv, Ukraine"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Andrii Marienko] A woman carries her child as they evacuate from a residential building which was hit by a Russian rocket at the city center of Kharkiv, Ukraine</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;

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"Jesus has been building his church (in Ukraine) and these churches are thriving. These pastors are brave – they refuse to give up their church. They refuse to leave."

‘We Can’t Forget Ukrainians’ – CityServe Brings 3M Meals, Generators, Hope (+podcast)

BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force in shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying it “seriously impacted and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations.”The U.S. shot down the balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft.Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy on Sunday over the “U.S. attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force.”“However, the United States turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace, obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Xie said.The presence of the balloon in the skies above the U.S. dealt a severe blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.Xie repeated China’s insistence that the balloon was a Chinese civil unmanned airship that blew into U.S. airspace by mistake, calling it “an accidental incident caused by force majeure.”China will “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, resolutely safeguard China’s interests and dignity and reserve the right to make further necessary responses,” he said.U.S. President Joe Biden issued the shootdown order after he was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing down the balloon over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.“What the U.S. has done has seriously impacted and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations since the Bali meeting,” Xie said, referring to a recent meeting between Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Indonesia that many hoped would create positive momentum for improving ties that have plunged to their lowest level in years.Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning provided no new details on Monday, repeating China's insistence that the object was a civilian balloon intended for meteorological research, had little ability to steer and entered U.S. airspace by accidentally diverging from its course. She also did not say what additional steps China intended to take in response to Washington's handling of the issue and cancellation of Blinken's trip, which would have made him the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.“We have stated that this is completely an isolated and accidental incident caused by force majeure, but the U.S. still hyped up the incident on purpose and even used force to attack," Mao said at a daily briefing. “This is an unacceptable and irresponsible action."Balloons thought or known to be Chinese have been spotted from Latin America to Japan. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told reporters Monday that a flying object similar to the one shot down by the U.S. had been spotted at least twice over northern Japan since 2020.“We are continuing to analyze them in connection with the latest case in the United States," he said.Mao confirmed that a balloon recently spotted over Latin American was Chinese, describing it as a civilian airship used for flight tests.“Affected by weather and due to its limited self-control ability, the airship severely deviated from its set route and entered the space of Latin America and the Caribbean by accident,” Mao said.Washington and Beijing are at odds over a range of issues from trade to human rights, but China is most sensitive over alleged violations by the U.S. and others of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.Beijing strongly protests U.S. military sales to Taiwan and visits by foreign politicians to the island, which it claims as Chinese territory, to be recovered by force if necessary.It reacted to a 2022 visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by firing missiles over the island and staging threatening military drills seen as a rehearsal for an invasion or blockade. Beijing also cut off discussion with the U.S. on issues including climate change that are unrelated to military tensions.Last week, Mao warned Pelosi’s successor, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, not to travel to Taiwan, implying that China’s response would be equally vociferous.“China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests,” Mao said. McCarthy said China had no right to dictate where and when he could travel.China also objects when foreign military surveillance planes fly off its coast in international airspace and when U.S. and other foreign warships pass through the Taiwan Strait, accusing them of being actively provocative.In 2001, a U.S. Navy plane conducting routine surveillance near the Chinese coast collided with a Chinese fighter plane, killing the Chinese fighter pilot and damaging the American plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese naval airbase on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. China detained the 24-member U.S. Navy aircrew for 10 days until the U.S. expressed regret over the Chinese pilot’s death and for landing at the base without permission.The South China Sea is another major source of tension. China claims the strategically key sea virtually in its entirety and protests when U.S. Navy ships sail past Chinese military features there.At a news conference Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Blinken said “the presence of this surveillance balloon over the United States in our skies is a clear violation of our sovereignty, a clear violation of international law, and clearly unacceptable. And we’ve made that clear to China.”“Any country that has its airspace violated in this way I think would respond similarly, and I can only imagine what the reaction would be in China if they were on the other end,” Blinken said.China’s weather balloon explanation should be dismissed outright, said Oriana Skylar Mastro, an expert on Chinese military affairs and foreign policy at Stanford University.“This is like a standard thing that countries often say about surveillance assets,” Mastro said.China may have made a mistake and lost control of the balloon, but it was unlikely to have been a deliberate attempt to disrupt Blinken’s visit, Mastro said.For the U.S. administration, the decision to go public and then shoot down the balloon marks a break from its usual approach of dealing with Beijing on such matters privately, possibly in hopes of changing China’s future behavior.However, Mastro said, it was unlikely that Beijing would respond positively.“They’re probably going to dismiss that and continue on as things have been. So I don’t see a really clear pathway to improved relations in the foreseeable future.”

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Business owner "Annie" weights down copies of the Chinese Daily News newspaper showcasing pictures of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023

"the United States turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace."

Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon, Wallop To Strained U.S.-Chinese Relations 

U.S. egg prices in grocery stores more than doubled over the past year due to an outbreak of bird flu, combined with increasing labor and supply costs.Some backyard chicken owners may have separately found their chickens underperforming, but experts say the issues are unrelated. While feed quality can affect hens’ egg-laying abilities, state agricultural officials told The Associated Press they have not heard of any widespread issues with feed affecting egg production, and several major feed suppliers say they haven’t changed their formulas.Experts say there are far more mundane explanations for the poultry’s meager production.“Is there a broad conspiracy? No, there’s not a broad conspiracy,” said Todd Applegate, a professor in poultry science at the University of Georgia. “Beyond feed, there are a lot, probably even more so, things from the management and from the bird’s environment that creates different things that would cause her to either go out of production or lower her production.”More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to control the bird flu virus have been egg-laying chickens, The Associated Press has reported.“Because of high path avian influenza, we’ve had to depopulate millions of laying hens. And when you take that many chickens out of production, there’s fewer eggs,” said Ken Anderson, a poultry industry specialist at North Carolina State University. “And when there’s fewer eggs, the price goes up.”Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and a farmer-led advocacy group have called for an investigation into potential egg price-gouging by producers. But there is no evidence that altered chicken feed is driving steep egg prices.Agricultural officials in multiple states, including North Carolina and Georgia, told the AP they have received no reports of widespread problems.“Our members have not really heard any exact reports of any correlation between the feed and egg production,” said Austin Therrell, executive director of the Association of American Feed Control Officials, a group of local, state and federal agencies responsible for regulating animal feeds.Therrell noted, however, that officials have fielded questions from people who saw feed-related claims on social media.Other factors could explain the individual reports of low backyard egg yields, experts say. Limited daylight hours in the winter can reduce or stop hens’ egg production, as can cold weather, said Applegate. Improperly stored feed can become compromised and affect egg production, too.“Backyard flock producers don’t necessarily follow lighting programs to support peak egg production,” Anderson said. “A lot of backyard flock people utilize natural daylight.”Many social media users claimed that specific feed products, such as those offered by Purina Animal Nutrition and Tractor Supply, a chain of farm supplies stores, were at fault. Some said their hens started laying again after they switched feeds or made their own. But the companies deny that their products are to blame.“We confirm there have not been formulation changes to Purina poultry feed products,” Brooke Dillon, a spokesperson for Land O’Lakes, the parent company of Purina Animal Nutrition, wrote in an email. Similarly, Mary Winn Pilkington, a spokesperson for Tractor Supply, said that its suppliers confirmed there has been “no change to the nutritional profile” of their feed products.Feed products have been recalled in the past for improper nutrition, according to Adam Fahrenholz, an associate professor of feed milling at North Carolina State University. But while feed nutrition issues, like insufficient protein, can reduce egg production, he found no merit in online claims of a massive conspiracy.“I don’t find it plausible from the standpoint of an intentional, large scale, you know, planned event at all,” Fahrenholz added.The conspiracy that feed companies are deliberately trying to sabotage backyard egg supplies found an audience thanks to a broader distrust of government officials and experts, said Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo who focuses on misinformation. It’s common for people to look for scapegoats during periods of social anxiety, he said. The claims join other recent conspiracies alleging a coordinated effort to undermine the nation’s food supply.“The official narrative is kind of reminding us that we are sometimes vulnerable to the randomness of nature,” Ophir said.

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Eggs are displayed on store shelves at a local grocery store in Chandler, Ariz.

More than 43 million of the 58 million birds destroyed over the past year to control the bird flu virus have been egg-laying chicken.

It Continues: Fewer Eggs, Higher Prices As You Shop

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In recent years, governments around the world have announced policies to reduce the volume of single-use plastic.

The report found that recycling isn't scaling up fast enough to deal with the amount of plastic being produced.

The World Is Creating More Single-Use Plastic Waste, Ending Up On Beaches 

The tech industry started the year with a wave of job cuts, around 50,000 in January alone, and there doesn’t appear to be any let up this month. The computer maker Dell said Monday that it's cutting about 6,600 jobs. Large and small tech companies went on a hiring spree in over the past several years due to a demand for their products, software and services surged with millions of people working remotely. However, even with all of the layoffs announced this year, most tech companies are still vastly larger than they were three years ago. Here’s a look at some of the companies that have announced layoffs so far.February 2023Dell: The computer maker reduced its payroll by 5%, or about 6,600 jobs, saying that the steps it's taken to stay ahead of eroding market conditions are no longer enough. Profits have slipped over the past two quarters at the company, which employed about 133,000 people at the start of last year.January 2023Amazon: The e-commerce company said it must cut about 18,000 positions. That’s just a fraction of its 1.5 million-strong global workforce.Salesforce: The company lays off 10% of its workforce, about 8,000 employees.Coinbase: The cryptocurrency trading platform cuts approximately 20% of its workforce, or about 950 jobs, in a second round of layoffs in less than a year.Microsoft: The software company said it will cut about 10,000 jobs, almost 5% of its workforce.Google: The search engine giant becomes the most recent in the industry to say it must adjust, saying 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its workforce, would be let go.Spotify: The music streaming service is cutting 6% of its global workforce. It did not give a specific number of job losses. Spotify reported in its latest annual report that it had about 6,600 employees, which implies that 400 jobs are being axed.SAP: Germany-based SAP, Europe’s biggest software company, said it it cutting up to 3,000 jobs worldwide, or about 2.5% of its workforce, after a shop drop in profits.PayPal: The digital payments company says it will trim about 7% of its total workforce, or about 2,000 full-time workers, as it contends with a challenging environment.IBM: Profits fell in the most recent quarter at the technology and consulting company, but it said the 3,900 job cuts announced in late January were due to earlier sale of parts of its business. IBM sold its health care data business last year and in 2021, it spun off its legacy tech division in 2021.November 2022Twitter: About half of the social media platform’s staff of 7,500 was let go after it was acquired by the billionaire CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk.Lyft: The ride-hailing service said it was cutting 13% of its workforce, almost 700 employees.Meta: The parent company of Facebook laid off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce.August 2022Snap: The parent company of social media platform Snapchat said that it was letting go of 20% of its staff. Snap’s staff has grown to more than 5,600 employees in recent years and the company said at the time that even after laying off more than 1,000 people, its staff would be larger than it was a year earlier.Robinhood: The company, whose app helped bring a new generation of investors to the market, announced that it would reduce headcount by about 23%, or approximately 780 people. An earlier round of layoffs last year cut 9% of its workforce.

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In just the past month of Jan. 2023, there have been nearly 50,000 job cuts across the technology sector. 

Even with all of the layoffs announced this year, most tech companies are still vastly larger than they were three years ago. 

After A Massive Growth Spurt, Big Tech Is Cutting Jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024.That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows just 37% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, down from 52% in the weeks before last year's midterm elections.While Biden has trumpeted his legislative victories and ability to govern, the poll suggests relatively few U.S. adults give him high marks on either. Follow-up interviews with poll respondents suggest that many believe the 80-year-old's age is a liability, with people focused on his coughing, his gait, his gaffes and the possibility that the world's most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger.“I, honestly, think that he would be too old,” said Sarah Overman, 37, a Democrat who works in education in Raleigh, North Carolina. “We could use someone younger in the office."As the president gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he has a chance to confront fundamental doubts about his competence to govern. Biden has previously leaned heavily on his track record to say that he's more than up to the task. When asked if he can handle the office’s responsibilities at his age, the president has often responded as if he’s accepting a dare: “Watch me.”Democratic candidates performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections, a testament to Biden's message that he is defending democracy and elevating the middle class. Democrats expanded their control of the Senate by one seat and narrowly lost their House majority even though history indicated there would be a Republican wave.Overall, 41% approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, the poll shows, similar to ratings at the end of last year. A majority of Democrats still approve of the job Biden is doing as president, yet their appetite for a reelection campaign has slipped despite his electoral track record. Only 22% of U.S. adults overall say he should run again, down from 29% who said so before last year’s midterm elections.The decline among Democrats saying Biden should run again for president appears concentrated among younger people. Among Democrats age 45 and over, 49% say Biden should run for reelection, nearly as many as the 58% who said that in October. But among those under age 45, 23% now say he should run for reelection, after 45% said that before the midterms.Linda Lockwood, a Democrat and retiree from Kansas City, Kansas, said she is not that worried about Biden's age.“He seems to be in pretty good condition in my opinion and that’s coming from a 76-year-old woman,” Lockwood said. “You might be a little more careful going down the steps as you get older, but if your brain is still working, that’s the important part.”Already the oldest president in U.S. history, Biden has been dogged by questions about his age as he would be 86 if he serves a full eight years as president. He often works long days, standing for hours, remembering the names of strangers he meets while traveling who want to share a story about their lives with him.Yet he's been a national political figure for a half-century, having first been elected to the Senate from Delaware in 1972, and the moments when he appears lost on stage or stumbles through speeches can garner more attention than his policies.On CNN on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, acknowledged that “generational arguments can be powerful.”“The most powerful argument of all is results,” said Buttigieg, 41. “And you can’t argue — at least, I would say you can’t argue with a straight face that it isn’t a good thing that we have had 12 million jobs created under this president.”Voters like Ross Truckey, 35, have been watching the president carefully. A lawyer in Michigan, Truckey did not vote for Biden or Republican Donald Trump in 2020. He feels as though Biden has been the latest in a string of “subpar” presidents.“His age and possibly his mental acuity is not where I would want the leader of the country to be,” Truckey said. “He, at times, appears to be an old man who is past his prime. Sometimes I feel a little bit of pity for the guy being pushed out in front of crowds.”Biden has repeatedly emphasized in speeches that it's essential for the public to know the totality of what his administration is doing. It's notched four big legislative victories with coronavirus relief, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and tax and spending measures that help to address climate change and improve the IRS' ability to enforce the tax code and help taxpayers.Yet just 13% have a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to accomplish major policy goals, a possible reflection of the fact that he must now work with a Republican majority in the House that wants to cut spending in return for lifting the government’s legal borrowing authority.The poll also shows only 23% of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” of confidence in Biden to effectively manage the White House. That has ticked down from 28% a year ago and remains significantly lower than 44% two years ago, just as Biden took office.Just 21% have a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to handle a crisis, down slightly from 26% last March.On working with congressional Republicans and managing government spending, roughly half of U.S. adults say they have hardly any confidence in the president, and only around 1 in 10 say they have high confidence.Republican voters are unwilling to give Biden the benefit of the doubt, hurting his ratings.John Rodriguez, 76, backed Trump and assumes that Biden is merely doing the bidding of his aides. That creates a challenge for a president who promised to unite the country.“I believe he’s not the one who’s calling the shots,” said Rodriguez, who lives in Cutler Bay, Florida. “He’s a puppet being told where to go, what to say.”But the key obstacle for Biden might be voters such as Vikram Joglekar, 46, who works in the computer industry in Austin, Texas. He backed the president in 2020, only to summarize his feelings about Biden's time in office as “meh.”“It’s not up for me to decide whether someone should run or not," Joglekar said. "I don’t know who is going to be on the ballot, but I would hope it would be someone better from his party.”___The poll of 1,068 adults was conducted Jan. 26-30 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

new-poll-from-ap-biden-2024-most-democrats-say-no-thank-you

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024. That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

As the president gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he has a chance to confront fundamental doubts about his competence to govern. 

New Poll From AP: Biden 2024? Most Democrats Say No Thank You

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