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Hey, good morning playbookers on Ragu Minovalin. It's Wednesday.

And today's show, some exclusive polling that might just tell the story of the midterms.

It's your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

We have some news in our latest Politico Morning Council poll that boils down to two big questions about 2022.

One, can Democrats overcome the culture war attacks dragging them down?

And two, can Republicans overcome the Trumpian anchor dragging them down?

Let's start with the Democrats.

Voter opinions about President Joe Biden's handling of the

pandemic continue to drag down Democrats. Thirty-nine percent of registered voters approve of the job he's

doing, while 57 percent disapprove. Democratic governors have been trying to get ahead of pandemic

fatigue by lifting mask mandates around the country. The country is moving further and further in

that direction. Forty-nine percent of voters want mask mandates removed, while 43 percent say

it's too early for states to rescind their mask mandates. The tricky part for Democrats is that

their voters are divided on the issue. A majority of Democrats still want mandates in place.

Support for a combination of masks and vaccines is dropping.

A plurality of voters, 49%, still feel that local governments should be encouraging COVID-19

vaccinations and masks in indoor public places.

But that's down seven points since September.

In the teeth of the pandemic, anti-masking sentiment was a fringe obsession limited

to the right, but with the Omicron surge subsiding, it's now mainstream and growing in popularity.

And masking is hardly the only culture war concern for Democrats. Putico's Sarah Ferris and

...