OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has shot past President Joe Biden in a major new poll that also shows the current commander-in-chief’s approval rating hitting basement levels.
CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey found that Trump is up 4 points over Biden, while also giving the current Oval Office occupant an approval rating of just 37 percent, the outlet reported.
“Meanwhile, 74% of the public believe it is either somewhat or very important for the U.S. government to fund military aid to Israel,” CNBC reported on Wednesday. “That compares with 72% who say it’s important to fund securing the border with Mexico and foreign humanitarian aid. A smaller, but still solid 61% majority respond that it’s important to fund military aid to Ukraine compared with 52% who support military and economic aid to Taiwan.”
On all the major issues that most concern Americans, Biden is deeply underwater. While his overall approval sits at 37 percent, his disapproval rating is 58 percent, or “the highest disapproval and the second-lowest approval rating of” his presidency.
“Biden’s 32% approval rating on the economy is the lowest of his presidency, while the 63% economic disapproval rating is the second lowest,” CNBC reported. “Even while Biden moved quickly to publicly support Israel and provide additional aid, the public is giving the president poor marks for this handling of foreign policy. Just 31% approve and 60% disapprove.”
Micah Roberts, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollster for the survey, said of the results: “You don’t get sub 40 approval ratings without losing large chunks of your base. And that’s what’s happening here.”
He went on to describe the results as “distressing numbers for a president facing reelection.”
Meanwhile, Jay Campbell, a Hart Research Associates partner and the Democratic pollster for the survey, noted that Biden’s numbers among younger voters, blacks and Latinos “are very troubling.” They are among those hit hardest by Biden’s economic policies and “you start to think that maybe they’ve run out of patience, and it’s starting to show through in their decreasing regard for the president,” Campbell said.
Trump beats Biden 46-42 percent, with 12 percent undecided.
Last month, an ABC News/Washington Post poll saw Trump with a nearly 10-point lead over Biden, 51-42 percent, with the president’s overall performance ratings extremely poor.
An NBC News poll, meanwhile, found Biden’s disapproval rating at 56 percent, one of the highest of his presidency, while 44 percent of respondents said they are worse off now under Biden than before. That is the highest percentage since 1986, under then-President Ronald Reagan.
“A majority of voters polled in the Post-ABC poll felt the economy; prices of food, energy and gas; the unemployment rate; and average wages were all either ‘poor’ or ‘not so good,’” Axios reported.
“91% agreed the cost of food was a negative. 87% felt the same about gas and energy prices,” the report continued. “74% are concerned about the state of the U.S. economy, and 75% about wages.”
In a survey analysis, ABC News’ Gary Langer noted: “A variety of factors may be at play. Biden’s poor performance ratings, the extent of economic discontent, the immigration crisis and doubts about his age clearly are relevant.”
He added: “All have been the subject of extensive recent news coverage, focusing public discourse on negatives for the president.”
ABC News host Martha Raddatz and the network’s senior political analyst appeared shocked by the findings.
“These numbers are simply staggering for the sitting president,” Rick Klein, ABC News’s political director, said on Sunday as he broke down the results. “Forty-four percent of people in this poll say they are not as well off as they were at the start of the Biden administration two and a half years ago. Those are the worst numbers that we’ve seen in our ‘ABC News/Washington Post’ polling. And it’s a question we’ve been asking going back to the Reagan administration.”
Continuing, Klein said: “And when – when you dive into the big questions around the economy, we know President Biden has been out there trying to make the case, unemployment is low, he’s been talking about how inflation has been easing, but people aren’t buying it. You covered some of the reasons why. Gas prices, food prices, grocery prices, and the like. Right now, on the big picture in the economy, 74 percent of the country, that’s about three-quarters of Americans say the economy is either not so good or downright poor.”
