Biden’s approval rating hits new low, Harris at a record low
A new poll from USA Today/Suffolk University found that only 38% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s job performance, the lowest approval rating of his presidency. Most polls in recent days — including Reuters, Politico, USA Today, The Economist, Monmouth, Emerson, Harvard and Rasmussen — show him with disapproval ratings as high as a 17-point spread between approval and disapproval.
Polling also shows that former President Donald Trump would beat Biden if a presidential election were held now, with Suffolk University showing him four points ahead. Biden’s approval rating is lower than any modern president other than Trump, who averaged 37% during fall 2017, and at this rate Biden may drop even lower than Trump.
As reasons for their disapproval, Americans cited Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, the reversal in progress combating COVID-19 with the surge of delta variant, inflation and the trillion-dollar spending bills. Only one in four surveyed in the USA Today/Suffolk University said the “Build Back Better” act would help them and their families.
The poll also found that 64% of Americans don’t want Biden to run for a second term. However, Vice President Kamala Harris’s approval ratings are even worse, coming in at only 28%, the lowest approval rating for a Vice President in modern times. Previously, Dick Cheney had the lowest approval rating while serving under President George W. Bush, 30% at the end of Bush’s second term, when approval ratings usually drop for a two-term president.
Additionally, the poll found that Republicans would defeat any Democratic congressional challengers by a percentage of 46% to 38%.
The mood of the voters seems to be shifting back to favoring Republicans, demonstrated by political newcomer and businessman Glenn Youngkin’s victory over well-known Clinton associate Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor’s race. Harris was considered the most progressive member of the Senate when Biden tapped her for Vice President, so voters may be rejecting her based on the partisan swing back away from the left. Voters traditionally favor the opposition party during midterm elections, although this is less than a year into the Biden administration.
