OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden has gotten more bad news as the November midterms come closer into view.
According to Gallup, one of the country’s top polling firms, Biden’s sixth-quarter approval rating was the lowest for any president on record at 38 percent.
The president’s current figure is also the lowest of his presidency thus far, while his average approval over the first year-and-a-half of his term is also the lowest of any other president in the polling firm’s 74-year history, The Daily Wire reported, citing the data.
“A year ago, Biden’s honeymoon period came to an end when his approval rating dropped to 50% amid a surge in U.S. coronavirus cases. Since then, his public support has eroded after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the highest inflation in four decades, record-high gas prices, and continuing supply chain issues,” Gallup noted in a news release.
“No president elected to his first term has had a lower sixth-quarter average than Biden, although Jimmy Carter’s and Donald Trump’s ratings were only slightly better, at 42%. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan also averaged below majority approval,” the release added.
While Biden’s approval sits at 38 percent, according to Gallup, his disapproval rating is also high at 59 percent. In addition, respondents had far more negative feelings about Biden than positive, with 45 percent saying they strongly disapproved of the job he’s doing compared to only 14 percent who moderately disproved. At the same time, only 13 percent of respondents strongly approve of Biden while 25 percent only moderately approve.
The Daily Wire adds:
Biden also earned the lowest approval ratings of his presidency among independents, and even among his own party. Just 31% of independents approved of Biden’s presidency — a new low — while 63% disapproved. Among Democrats, Biden maintained a 78% approval rating, while 19% disapproved of him; however, that number tied the previous record-low among Democrats, a record he set in December. Just 5% of Republicans approved of Biden, while fully 95% disapproved.
George W. Bush’s sixth-quarter approval was the highest on record, at 75%, followed by John F. Kennedy’s, at 71%; Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush were tied at 65%; Richard Nixon was the only other President with a net-positive approval through the first 18 months of his presidency, with a 58% sixth-quarter approval rating.
Historically speaking, Biden is not likely to see much of a rebound in the seventh quarter of his term, which runs from July 20 through October 19.
“To date, only one elected president — George H.W. Bush — has seen a meaningful improvement in his seventh quarter,” Gallup reported, noting that he got his boost after condemning Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and his pledge not to allow it to stand. The result was the 1991 Gulf War, which was essentially over in 100 hours following weeks of air attacks.
The latest Gallup figures come amid tanking approval ratings for the president in several other recent surveys.
According to the RealClearPolitics average of polling, Biden’s approval has tanked to 36.8 percent, while his approval hit a record low of just 37.5 percent in FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate polling data.
His rating was negatively affected by recent New York Times/Siena College and Quinnipiac polls, both of which had him at just 33 percent approval. Several other surveys have put him in the mid-30s.
His approval has since rebounded slightly, however: He currently is at 38.9 percent average approval in RealClearPolitics, while he’s at around 39.9 percent at FiveThirtyEight, though those averages are still considered very low.
“While Biden retains the support of the vast majority of Democrats, his 78% approval rating among his fellow partisans ties as the lowest for him to date, having previously descended to that level in December,” Gallup noted. “The 31% of independents approving of Biden is a new low for him, while Republican approval continues to be scarce.”
Democratic strategists see Biden’s polling as problematic for the entire party heading into the midterms amid record-high inflation and continued high gas, diesel, food, and housing costs.
