总统乔·拜登距离中期选举还有不到一周的时间，奥巴马在周三晚上发表演讲，谴责政治暴力，并敦促选民保护民主。
“我们必须以压倒性的声音反对政治暴力和选民恐吓，就这样，”他说。“站起来发言反对。在美国，我们不会用暴乱、暴民、子弹或锤子来解决我们的分歧。我们在投票箱前和平解决他们。”
拜登在距离美国国会大厦不远的华盛顿联合车站发表讲话，首先谈到了众议院议长南希·佩洛西的丈夫上周遭到的袭击，详细描述了一名入侵者如何闯入他们在加利福尼亚州的家中，用锤子袭击了保罗·佩洛西。
“袭击者进屋问，‘南希在哪里?南希在哪里?这些正是暴徒在1月6日袭击美国国会大厦时使用的词，当时他们打碎窗户，踢开大门，”拜登说。
拜登接着谴责了1月6日的袭击者，称他们是被前总统唐纳德·特朗普关于2020年的谎言“激怒”的暴徒选举。拜登说，这些谎言在这个选举周期仍然普遍存在，一些共和党候选人支持特朗普关于2020年竞选的谎言，并先发制人地对他们今年秋天参加的竞选结果产生怀疑。
“美国民主正受到攻击，因为被击败的美国前总统拒绝接受2020年选举的结果，”拜登说。“他拒绝接受人民的意愿，他拒绝接受他失败的事实。”
拜登还谈到了计票问题，试图通过提醒公众可能需要几天才能公布全部结果来缓和对选举日的预期。
根据佛罗里达大学美国选举项目分析的数据，超过2800万人在2022年大选中提前投票。
“以合法有序的方式统计所有合法选票需要时间，”他说。
这次演讲距离11月8日的选举只有六天，民主党人正在捍卫他们在国会的微弱多数。
从五点三十八分到一点的预报潜在的共和党接管的房子，而参议院在不断变化。
拜登、副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯、前总统奥巴马等政治重量级人物这些天来，他们一直在进行竞选试验，以在全国范围内有争议的竞选中提振选民的热情。
拜登希望2022年的周期不是对他的总统任期进行公投，而是在民主党人和“MAGA共和党人”之间进行选择，他形容这些人是威胁堕胎、隐私和同性婚姻权利的极端分子。
拜登说:“我呼吁所有美国人，不分党派，迎接这个国家和时代的重要时刻。”“我们必须投票，要知道利害攸关的是什么，而不仅仅是当前的政策。”
但民调显示，餐桌问题是大多数选民最关心的问题。最新的新闻调查ABC新闻和益普索发现，26%的美国人认为经济是决定他们投票的最重要的问题，而23%的人认为是通货膨胀。
“人们担心秩序混乱。每当出现混乱时——在这种情况下，在犯罪和经济新闻中——他们倾向于投票给反对派，”资深民主党战略家汉克·申科夫告诉ABC新闻。
Sheinkopf说,“很难想象”拜登关于民主的信息会在下周的选举前产生影响。
“(拜登)必须表明，在一个严重分裂的时代，他是一个统一者，但这真的会打动选民吗?”申科夫质疑道。
Biden warns democracy is 'under attack' as midterms enter final stretch
PresidentJoe Biden, with less than a week to go until the midterms, delivered a speech Wednesday night condemning political violence and urging voters to protect democracy.
"We must with an overwhelming voice stand against political violence and voter intimidation, period," he said. "Stand up and speak against it. We don't settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the ballot box."
Speaking from Union Station in Washington, a short distance from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began by addressing the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband last week, detailing how an intruder broke into their California home and assaulted Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
"The assailant entered the home asking, 'Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?' Those are the very same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, when they broke windows, kicked in the doors," Biden said.
Biden then went on to denounce the Jan. 6 attackers as a mob "whipped into a frenzy" by former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020election. Those falsehoods, Biden said, are still pervasive this election cycle with some Republican candidates espousing Trump's lies about the 2020 race and are preemptively sowing doubt about the outcome in the races they're running in this fall.
"American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election," Biden said. "He refuses to accept the will of the people, he refuses to accept the fact that he lost."
Biden also addressed vote tallies, trying to temper Election Day expectations by reminding the public that it may take a few days before full results are announced.
More than 28 million people have voted early in the 2022 general election, according to data analyzed by the University of Florida's U.S. Elections Project.
"It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner," he said.
President Joe Biden speaks about threats to democracy ahead of next week's midterm elections at the Columbus Club in Union Station, near the U.S. Capitol. Nov. 2, 2022.
Alex Brandon/AP
The speech came just six days out from the Nov. 8 elections, where Democrats are defending their slim majorities in Congress.
Forecasts from FiveThirtyEight point to apotential Republican takeoverof the House, while theSenate is in flux.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama and otherpolitical heavyweightshave been hitting the campaign trial these final days to shore up voter enthusiasm in contentious races across the country.
Biden's hoped to cast the 2022 cycle not as a referendum on his presidency but as a choice between Democrats and "MAGA Republicans" who he describes as extremists that threaten rights to abortion, privacy and same-sex marriage.
"I appeal to all Americans, regardless of party, to meet this moment of national and generational importance," Biden said. "We must vote, knowing what's at stake and not just the policy of the moment."
But polling has shown kitchen-table issues are top of mind for a majority of voters. The latestsurveyfrom ABC News and Ipsos found 26% of Americans identify the economy as their single most important issue determining their vote while 23% cite inflation.
"People are worried about disorder. And whenever there's disorder -- in this case in crime and economic news -- they tend to vote for the opposition," Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, told ABC News.
Sheinkopf said it's "hard to imagine" Biden's message on democracy will move the needle before next week's elections.
"[Biden] has to show that he is a unifier at a time of great division, but is it really going to move voters?" Sheinkopf questioned.
