Joe Biden’s approval rating hits low, according to one poll: Why is Joe Biden tied with former President Trump in most surveys, even as Trump has been indicted four times? Doubts about the economy are one reason.
Joe Biden Has Polling Problems, Again
A new poll has been released showing President Biden at a new low when it comes to what Americans think about his handling of the economy.
The IBD/TIPP Poll, from Investors Business Daily, finds that just 36 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s overall performance while 54 percent disapprove. The poll had Biden at 41 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval in the September edition of the poll.
There was a noted split between income levels.
“Biden’s approval rating among poll participants earning up to $75,000 actually was unchanged from September, with 35% approval and 54% disapproval,” IBD wrote in its writeup of the poll. “Yet Biden’s support fell off a cliff among those earning more than $75,000. This group of higher earners now disapproves of Biden 54% to 39%. Biden is back underwater among higher earners after 59% approval and 35% disapproval in September. Prior to that, higher earners disapproved of Biden 48%-41.5% and 47%-43% in August and July.”
The survey also found that voters disapprove of the president’s economic policies by a more than 2-to-1 margin, with inflation found to have overshadowed all of the positive economic news of Biden’s presidency.
“Inflation is undoubtedly a major source of Biden’s poor economic reviews. U.S. employers added more than 13.45 million jobs in the first 31 months of Biden’s presidency, Labor Department data shows. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage has grown a solid 4.3% over the past year. Yet inflation has eaten away all of that increase and more for many Americans,” IBD said.
Most polls don’t break out results by whether they’re investors, but IBD does. The president’s approval rating among investors is down to 45 percent, compared to 56 percent approval the month before.
According to the RealClearPolitics average, the IDP poll, which has Biden with a -18 approval rating, is worse than the average, which lists Biden at -13.3. A recent Economist/YouGov poll had Biden underwater by 15 points, while the most recent survey of the notably right-leaning Rasmussen Reports poll had the president underwater by just 4 points.
So are Biden’s re-election changes doomed? Not necessarily.
Also at RCP, the average of head-to-head general election polls show Trump ahead by 1.1 percent. Several recent polls have had the Biden-Trump race tied, with most others having one candidate or another ahead by long single digits. It appears clear that the recent ABC News/Washington Post poll that had Trump ahead by 10 points was an outlier.
Furthermore, election day is 13 months away, and the general election campaign is a long way from getting underway. No one has yet voted, with the first primaries and caucuses still months away. The election campaign that happened in 2020 looked very different from how it looked like it was going to go in October of 2019, between the start of the pandemic and Biden coming from behind to win the Democratic nomination.
NBC News, however, recently reported that Biden is already pivoting to the general election, under the impression that Trump will be the nominee. It also appears that Trump is viewing the Biden campaign the same way, for all of the odd conspiracy theories that the Democrats will find a way to “switch out” Biden for another candidate like Gavin Newsom or Michelle Obama.
“If this is an election between two incumbent presidents, it only figures that the general election starts early,” Brad Todd, a Republican strategist, told NBC News.
“It helps you engage your base and your fundraising,” Jim Messina, a veteran of Barack Obama’s campaigns for president, told NBC. “What has become clear to the Democrats is it’s going to be Trump.”
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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