News
Biden Approval Rating Drops to 39% Lower Than Any President
The approval rating of President Joe Biden has dropped to its lowest point in his presidency, barely two weeks before the midterm elections that will shape the rest of his term.
According to a recent two-day national poll, only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, a percentage point lower than a week ago.
Biden’s unpopularity contributes to the belief that Republicans will retake control of the United States House of Representatives and potentially the Senate on November 8. Republicans would be able to derail Biden’s legislative program if they controlled even one chamber of Congress.
Biden’s administration, which began in January 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has been distinguished by the economic wounds of the worldwide health catastrophe, particularly soaring inflation. In May and June of this year, his approval rating dropped to 36%.
In this week’s Reuters/Ipsos poll, one-third of respondents named the economy the country’s largest problem, far outnumbering the one-tenth who named crime. Only one in every twenty people predicted the demise of national abortion rights.
The poll, conducted online in English across the United States, received responses from 1,005 respondents, including 447 Democrats and 369 Republicans. It has a credibility interval of four percentage points, a measure of precision.
According to administration insiders, the White House has reduced its early confidence about the midterm elections and is now concerned that Democrats may lose control of both chambers of Congress.
Recent surveys show Democrats who once had comfortable leads in some Senate seats on the verge of losing, while Senate races that were considered toss-ups between the two parties are now leaning Republican as high inflation lingers.
According to polling analysts such as FiveThirtyEight, the House of Representatives, which Biden and other allies and advisers anticipated Democrats would win earlier this year, is firmly swinging for Republicans.
Republicans are anticipated to obstruct legislation on family leave, abortion, police, and other Biden issues while seeking new laws to limit immigration and spending, using the debt ceiling as leverage.
Republicans are also expected to initiate probes into Democratic funding and the president’s son Hunter’s business activities and personal life. Some politicians have stated their intention to impeach Biden, his cabinet officials, or Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to one individual familiar with White House thinking, the Democrats’ odds of retaining control of the Senate were 50-50.
Biden projected in May that Democrats would gain seats in both the House and the Senate, but he admitted this week that the contest has tightened.
“It’s been back and forth with them ahead, us ahead, them ahead,” Biden said, adding that polls were “all over the place” and that he expected them to swing back in favour of Democrats before the November 8 elections.
While unrealistic, the White House has maintained a public message of hope.
“The president and his advisers believe we have a strong chance of retaining both chambers and are focused on doing everything they can to capitalize on how much Republicans are playing into our hands – including by saying their top priority is to worsen inflation with a tax giveaway to the wealthy,” one Biden adviser told Reuters.
Former and current aides say the White House is bracing for any potential obstruction or investigations.
“The White House is clear about what Republican dominance could look like,” said Eric Schultz, a Democratic strategist close to the White House. “It’s not hard to guess where Republicans will go with this if they get the gavel.”
The White House engaged white-collar defence lawyer Richard Sauber as special counsel earlier this year to prepare for any probes, but additional appointments and staff shifts are on hold until the election results are known, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Because of internal Republican Party divides, those politicians may struggle to decide what to focus on, according to this source.
The persistence of inflation concerns among key voting groups, as well as difficulty combating Republicans’ message across several campaigns that Democrats’ support for criminal justice and policing reform means they are soft on crime, are driving the recent rethink, according to administration officials.
Democrats interpreted legislative victories in June and an August referendum in Kansas rejecting efforts to repeal abortion rights from the state constitution as voters rejecting Republican policy agendas.
However, earlier this month, a higher-than-expected inflation statistic shattered some optimism, and numerous polls show that inflation remains voters’ top issue.
Officials from the White House and Democratic strategists Reuters spoke with those who acknowledged the broad move away from midterm optimism but were not ready to give up.
They point out that historically, midterm elections benefit the party, not in power, and close races in the House and Senate might flip for Democrats on a tiny number of votes.
“For months now, we’ve been talking about the economy, inflation, abortion, our legislative victories, and how that will help Americans,” said one White House official, dismissing the notion that Democrats were overly optimistic about the impact of the Supreme Court’s repeal of abortion rights on Democratic candidates.
“There has been an increase in the number of women registering to vote in several battleground states, and we believe it is critical to bring these newly motivated people to the polls in November,” the source added.
Abortion is playing a “major role” in at least a half-dozen close Senate elections, according to a second White House official. “It’s also influencing swing districts for House contests in the center-right.”
Inflation numbers and Republican rhetoric on crime have weakened Biden’s warning about the Republican Party’s hardline “MAGA” wing, which has threatened to restrict abortion rights and other popular liberties, like contraception.
While some studies suggest that Republican-led states have the same or greater murder rates than Democratic-led ones, a recent Ipsos poll found that Americans prefer Republicans over Democrats when addressing crime issues.
According to Democratic strategists in battleground areas, the White House has failed to translate a string of legislative victories on climate, infrastructure, and extended social programs into greater favorability ratings for Biden.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the president frequently spoke about student debt relief, the economy, infrastructure, and abortion in the midterm elections. “You have seen the President almost every day in front of the American people, talking exactly about what is at stake,” she remarked.
Some Democrats have expressed a desire for Biden to travel more frequently, demonstrating how these policies have affected local voters. However, candidates in certain critical races have chosen to campaign without Biden, prompting the White House to dramatically reduce their planned presence in competitive areas across the country in the weeks running up to the election, according to an official.
In recent weeks, Biden has increased his travel itinerary, alternating between political engagements and those focused on specific legislative accomplishments.
A mid-October West Coast swing contained no stops in Nevada or Arizona, which are home to two critical Senate contests, while former President Barack Obama will begin a campaign swing this week.
