Happy Monday, and greetings from D.C.

The next few weeks could decide the fate of the Biden presidency, so we won’t worry unduly about overhyping the whole Biden Agonistes thing. Politico’s Playbook says that the next nine days — packed with legislative negotiations, elections, and summits — “are the most important of Biden’s young presidency.” And they’re not wrong.

Even as the Orange One waits in the wings and the GOP’s embrace of crazy continues to spread, Biden’s poll numbers have fallen into a new, grim territory.

A big part of the problem? Biden hasn’t been paying enough attention to the independents. (You may have heard this before.) “70 percent of independent voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction, according to the seven-page memo the pollsters wrote for Center Forward.”

The pollsters note that it is the swing voters who will determine whether the Democrats can keep control of Congress after next year’s midterms.

“We’re not there, and we’re not going to get there if we don’t reach into the center,” [Joel] Benenson said.