This is going to be a big week for President Biden, of course, as we just mentioned, Super Tuesday days away. On Thursday, he will deliver the state of the Union to Congress. While the President is doing those last-minute preparations around that, he has who you could argue is his biggest supporter on the campaign trail, Jill Biden, sharpening her attacks on the likely Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

But Donald Trump? He spent a lifetime tearing us down and devaluing our existence. He mocks women's bodies, disrespects our accomplishments, and brags about assault. Now he's bragging about killing Roe v Wade. Donald Trump is dangerous. To women and to our families. We simply cannot let him win.

Cnn's Senior Whitehouse producer, Betsey Klein, is joining us now. And, Betsey, when I covered him in 2020, I remember Jill Biden at one point helped pull a protester off stage. They would say that was her Philly side coming out was the joke around that. But we are really seeing her sharpening her attacks on the former President in support of her husband.

Absolutely, Jess. We've seen the first lady criticized Republicans and former President Trump in the past, but her remarks this week really marked a clear shift in her tone and her willingness to take the gloves off. As she campaigns for her husband's fourth and final presidential bid, she is motivated in part by Trump, saying recently that if he is the Republican nominee, she would work even harder. Now we're seeing her in this general election campaign role coming into sharper focus. She is now in the middle of a four-stop swing to a series of battleground states, launching that Women for Biden Harris coalition today in Vegas. She's able to really connect with that group because like most of the first ladies who have come before her, she is significantly more popular than her husband. Her disapproval ratings are about half her husband's. She's a less divisive Biden. She can speak as a teacher and as a working mom and grandmother, and really the person who knows the President best.

Yeah. And so should we expect to see more of her, I would imagine, on the campaign trail in the coming months, especially as this general election is likely to start really coming into focus, really in the next week.

Yeah, I think this week is just the start of an active campaign season for the first lady. We know she's been working behind the scenes, sitting in on some of his political meetings, helping with some of his hiring decisions for key staff. But we really expect her to ramp up that presence on the road in the coming months. And notably, the campaign is really planning to leverage that popularity beyond the trail. She's been a strong grassroots and high-dollar fundraising draw, and there are now plans to use this week's swing for a series of digital ads, Jess.

All right, Betsey Klein for us in Washington. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Joining me now to dissect this all and much more, CNN's Essie Cupp and Alicia Johnson. She's a former senior advisor to the Biden 2020 campaign. It is great to have both of you. Alicia, let's start first with you. We just heard from Betsey on these sharpening attacks from Jill Biden. Is this something that you would expect having been there for 2020 and as they look ahead to the general election in 2024?

Not only do I expect for this to continue to happen, for us to actually see more of Dr. Jill Biden on the campaign trail, I actually think it's a very smart strategy, given that a key part of the base that is frustrated with Republicans' assault on women's bodies and reproductive rights and abortion are young people and women who Dr. Biden, she speaks to, right? She speaks to as a mother, as a woman, as a teacher, all of those things. And she's able to bring a bit of calmness in the way that only a first lady can, because she's not the President who can sometimes be a polarizing figure. But she has this way of embracing people, feeling like America's friend or mother, and having that plain-speak conversation with folks is a smart strategy, especially around these issues of agency and autonomy on women's bodies and the existential threat that Donald Trump is on the next generation here in this country.

And Essie, first ladies often are much more popular than their husband and do have a higher popularity rating amongst Americans. That's not abnormal. Is she going to be able, you think, to move some of these critical voter bases Is it people that they're a little soft on their coalition, maybe women, voters of color, but also potentially these independent voters that they're going to need as well in these swing states?

Yeah, listen, I agree with everything that Alencia just said. Listen, this is what surrogates are for. Surrogates are to speak to different groups, and you bring in different surrogates to represent different voting groups and speak to people that maybe the principal can't address as authentically. Joe Biden's great. However, this is a different primary, and the knock, the number one knock on Joe Biden is his age, his cognitive health, his physical I think it actually just looks... It doesn't look great to put his wife out there to speak on a lot of these issues, because I think the subliminal message that some voters will get is he's not up to the job. Now, That's unfair because every campaign and candidate will send surrogates out, including first ladies and kids. That's usual and normal. But I think in the lens of this primary, I'm not actually I'm sure that it helps him.

Interesting point. I want to talk, too, about this new New York Times polling. We have mentioned several times in the last couple of hours, one poll is a snapshot. However, Alencia, it's not a great snapshot for Joe Biden right now. You see that just generally the horse race there, who would you support in the 2024 election? Well, this is among Hispanic voters, 46% Joe Biden, 40%. That's one key demographic Joe Biden is going to need to do much better with if he's going to win. It also showed that Biden is tied with Trump among women. Why do you think these core pieces of the Biden coalition are softening on him? It at least according to these numbers?

Listen, here's what I'll say about those polls. If the election was tomorrow, I would feel extremely worried versus the election being several months away, where I'm still worried that there's a bit of time for us to use those polls, for Democrats to use those polls as information. I'm glad we're having this conversation that the Latino population, Black voters, young voters, progressive voters are frustrated with the Biden-Harris administration for whatever reasons they may be. But there are also a lot of achievements from this White House that they should be campaigning on a lot harder when it comes to working for those communities. I think these polls give the campaign the indication and the time that they need to go and build with those coalitions. That's what the uncommitted vote was for in a primary on Michigan, in order for the campaign to understand the gap that they have to make up. And so while those polls may seem discouraging, and I feel like we've been talking about those polls for over a year now, election day is still very far out. We've got to get through Super Tuesday, and then we've also got to get through the Democratic National Convention, where the party builds a platform on all of the pieces of the coalition that makes up the Democratic base.

And so I actually look at these polls as an opportunity for us to see a way forward with these communities.

Essie, do you agree? Do you believe there is still time? I do think this is, and I want to know what you think about this, because these are two candidates that are so well defined and known by American voters. Does that play into this at all? Do you agree there's still time for Biden to make it up or for Trump to lose it in some places?

For sure. I think Biden's problem is, in some cases, messaging. The economy is tough to message on because a lot of people don't feel like it's doing well. That's really tough, and it's a number one issue. On immigration, another number one issue, it's bad policy. I've had Democrats tell me that off camera and privately, that he just got bad facts on the border, and that's going to be really hard to reassure people in any amount of time unless he changes that policy. And there are other tertiary issues. Israel is important. Crime is important. It's really tough to move those Titanic issues over night, and it's going to take time. I don't know that it's enough time, frankly, for Biden to do that. And for Trump, I mean, every day is another chance for Trump to dig himself into a deeper hole. And I think Nikki Haley's success winning the Republican Party in a number of states, should be a huge warning sign for Donald Trump that he might not have a big enough base to win a general election. Even if he wins the nomination for the Republican Party, general is going to be real tough.