A number of factors may be responsible for the striking findings of a recent poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll, released over the weekend, revealed a significant decline in the percentage of Democrats who support President Biden’s decision to seek a second term. This percentage dropped from 52% in October of last year to 37% in the most recent poll.
But in a nutshell, as Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut report
While Biden has trumpeted his legislative victories and ability to govern, the poll suggests relatively few U.S. adults give him high marks on either. Follow-up interviews with poll respondents suggest that many believe the 80-year-old’s age is a liability, with people focused on his coughing, his gait, his gaffes and the possibility that the world’s most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger.
The percentage of American adults who indicated that Biden should run for reelection has decreased from 29% in October of last year to 22% in the most recent AP poll.
One might inquire as to the level of job approval.
Overall, 41% approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, the poll shows, similar to ratings at the end of last year. A majority of Democrats still approve of the job Biden is doing as president, yet their appetite for a reelection campaign has slipped despite his electoral track record.
As might be anticipated, the greatest decline is among younger Democrats. According to Boak and Fingerhut, among Democrats aged 45 and over, 49% believe that Biden should run for reelection, a figure that is nearly identical to the 58% who expressed this view in October.
However, among those under the age of 45, 23% now indicate that he should run for reelection, whereas 45% indicated this before the midterm elections. To be precise, this represents a decline of almost exactly half.
What other pertinent information is available? The survey of 1,068 adults revealed that
*”Only 23% of U.S. adults express a great deal of confidence in Biden’s ability to effectively manage the White House.” This represents a decline from 28% a year ago and remains significantly lower than 44% two years ago, at the time of Biden’s inauguration.
* “A mere 21% of respondents expressed a great deal of confidence in Biden’s ability to handle a crisis, a slight decline from 26% recorded in March of the previous year.”
* “A mere 13% express a great deal of confidence in Biden’s capacity to achieve significant policy objectives.”
The findings of another new poll, conducted by ABC News-Washington Post, were similarly unfavorable for the President.
Fifty-eight percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents support the idea of nominating someone other than Biden, the poll found. Just 31 percent said they would support Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a potential second term.
In addition, according to Toluse Olorunnipa, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin,
The poll finds that 62 percent of Americans think Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” during his presidency, while 36 percent say he has accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount.”
If you parse these out according to political affiliation, the results are even more eye-opening:
While 77 percent of Democrats say Biden has accomplished at least a good amount, that drops to 32 percent among political independents. Only seven percent of Republicans say he has accomplished much, while 93 percent say he has accomplished not very much, little or nothing.
Finally, and perhaps the worst number of all:
A growing number of Americans say their own financial circumstances are worsening on Biden’s watch. Roughly 4 in 10 Americans (41 percent) say they are not as well-off financially since Biden became president, up from 35 percent one year ago and the highest percentage to report such a sentiment under any president in Post-ABC polls since measurement began in 1986. [Underlining added.]
ABC News’s Gary Langer puts these numbers in historical perspective:
Four in 10 Americans say they’ve gotten worse off financially since Joe Biden became president, the most in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
