Biden’s Poll Numbers Go Up Slightly, But It’s Not All Good News – A new Washington Post/ABC News poll has shown that President Joe Biden’s approval rating among Americans has improved slightly in the last two months. Conducted between April 24 and 28, the poll asked 1,004 adults how they feel about the president’s performance on a wide range of issues. Pollsters also asked whether they “approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president.”
The survey found that 42% of respondents either approve “strongly” or “somewhat,” with those two options split evenly down the middle at 21% each. Some 52% of respondents, however, disapprove of his overall performance. 41% “strongly” disapproved, and 10% “somewhat” disapproved.
It’s good news for Biden. When the same poll was conducted two months prior, 37% approved of his performance overall, while 55% disapproved. It’s an uptick of five points on his approval rating, and a decrease of three points on his disapproval rating. Given the ten-point difference between his approve/disapprove ratings, however, the president still has a long way to go if he is to help his party win in this year’s midterms.
GOP Has the Advantage As We Head Into Midterms
According to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, the Republicans have the edge as we head into the midterm elections. The poll showed that 47% of registered voters plan on voting for a Republican candidate roughly six months from now, compared to 44% who say they plan to vote for a Democrat.
Importantly, Republicans also have the edge over the Democrats when it comes to independent voters, with 45% indicating that they will vote Republican compared to 38% who intend to vote Democrat.
“Pluralities of Americans perceive the Republican Party to be the party who can better deal with the issues of national security (43%), the economy (42%), controlling inflation (41%), gun policy (41%), and crime (39%),” the poll also reveals.
Biden’s Numbers Still Aren’t Great
A Suffolk University poll also showed in April how President Joe Biden’s approval ratings reached “dangerously low” levels in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire – four states that he carried in the 2020 presidential election.
Furthermore, the president is losing key voting bases that Democrats typically carry without much effort. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that President Biden’s approval rating among Hispanic voters is just 26%, with some 41% of Hispanics saying they “disapprove strongly” of the job the president has done so far.
Biden’s approval ratings may have increased slightly, but certainly not enough to outweigh fears among Democrats that they are on track to lose big in November this year. When the Democratic president performs badly, it will undoubtedly be felt in Democrat campaigns all over the country.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
