Only 39% of US adults approve of Mr Biden’s performance as president
Only 39% of US adults approve of Mr Biden’s performance as president
President Joe Biden’s approval rating fell to the lowest point of his presidency in May, a new poll shows, with deep pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party.
According to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research, only 39% of American adults approve of Biden’s performance as president, down from a negative rating just a month earlier.
Overall, only 2 in 10 adults say the US is headed in the right direction or the economy is good, both down from about 3 in 10 a month ago. Those drops were concentrated among Democrats, with just 33% within the president’s party saying the country was headed in the right direction, down from 49% in April.
Of particular concern to Mr Biden ahead of the midterm elections is his approval among Democrats at 73%, significantly lower than before his presidency. In the AP-NORC elections held in 2021, Mr Biden’s approval rating among Democrats has never fallen below 82%.
The findings reflect a widespread sense of outrage in a country facing challenges ranging from inflation, gun violence, and a sudden shortage of baby formula to a persistent pandemic.
“I don’t know how bad it could be,” said Milan Ramsey, a 29-year-old high school counselor and Democrat in Santa Monica, California, who had to move in with her husband to her parents’ house to raise an infant son.
Ramsey feels that the financial predicament that has made her unable to afford the place where she grew up is not Biden’s fault. But he worries he hasn’t implemented ambitious plans to fight climate change or fix health care.
“He has not fulfilled any of the promises. I think the stimulus checks came out and it was the last victory for his administration,” Ramsey said of Biden. “I think he’s tired — and I don’t blame him, I’ll be tired with his career even at his age.”
Republicans haven’t been hot to Mr Biden for some time. Less than 1 in 10 approve of the president or his handling of the economy, but this is no different from last month.
Gerry Toranzo, a nurse and Republican in Chicago, accused Biden of forcing him to pinch pennies by taking steps like driving slow to conserve gas after prices skyrocketed during his administration.
“Their policies are destroying the economy,” Biden’s 46-year-old Toranzo blamed for clogging the Keystone XL fuel pipeline in Canada and disrupting domestic energy production. “It’s a vicious cycle of price increases.”
Overall, two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy. The rating has remained largely unchanged over the past few months, though has risen slightly since the first two months of the year.
But there are signs that discontent with Mr Biden about the economy has deepened. Just 18% of Americans say Biden’s policies have helped more than hurt the economy, down slightly from 24% in March. Fifty-one percent say they have done more to hurt than help, while 30% say they haven’t made much difference either way.
The percentage of Democrats who say Mr. Biden’s policies have done more to help has fallen from 45% to 37%, although just 18% say they have done more to hurt; 44% say they haven’t felt any difference.
Some Democrats blame other forces for inflation.
Manuel Morales, an internet services technician in Moline, Illinois, thinks the pandemic and war in Ukraine had a far bigger impact than Mr Biden’s decisions. But Democrats, 58, are now questioning Biden’s biggest legislative achievement, the US rescue plan and the benefits of its stimulus checks.
“It helped a lot of people, but,” Morales said, “people didn’t want to go back to work.”
immigration
Morales blamed Biden on another area of persistent vulnerability toward the president – immigration.
Only 38% back Mr. Biden on immigration, and Morales is dismayed at the sights of migrants crossing the southern border. Although he himself is a Mexican immigrant, Morales feels that the US needs to regulate its border more strictly in hopes of legalizing eligible immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Also, Morales said, there should be limits. “It’s impossible to bring the whole of Central America and Mexico into this country,” he said.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Another area where Morales blames Biden, though mildly, is the war with Ukraine. “We’re spending a lot of money going to Ukraine and whatever’s going to go into loss,” Morales said.
Overall, 45% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of US relations with Russia, while 54% disapprove of it. It remains constant every month since the start of the war in Ukraine. 73 percent of Democrats and 15% of Republicans approve.
The new poll shows that just 21% of Americans say they have “great confidence” in Biden’s ability to handle the situation in Ukraine; 39% say they have some confidence and 39% say they hardly have any.
Charles Penn, a retired factory worker in Huntington, Indiana, is satisfied with Biden’s performance on Ukraine.
“I think he’s done fine,” Penn, 68, said of the president.
But overall Penn, an independent who leans Republican, is disappointed with Biden, and blames him for the rising prices that have squeezed him into his retirement.
“In the long run, Democrats have made things worse by pushing for higher wages, such as going from $7 an hour to $15 an hour,” Penn said of the push for a sharp increase in the federal minimum wage. cited, which Biden has adopted. The flip side to this is that if you had Republicans, they would cut my Social Security.
Still, Penn thinks Biden must pay a political price.
“He’s the captain of the ship, so he’s responsible,” Penn said of the president.