Joe Biden is the second most unpopular president in modern U.S. history, just behind fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter.
This was the finding of opinion poll website FiveThirtyEight, which incidentally leans liberal. Citing figures from the site, Yahoo News pointed out that Biden's approval hasn't improved in almost a year. Andrew Romano, a Yahoo News correspondent, expounded on why this is the case.
"At this point in his term – about 910 days in – Biden is the second most unpopular president in modern U.S. history. As of July 18, Biden's average job-approval rating … is a paltry 39.1 percent. [Meanwhile], his average disapproval rating is 55.4 percent," Romano wrote.
Subtracting Biden's approval rating with his disapproval rating yields the net approval rating (NAR) of -16.3 percent. The correspondent noted that this negative NAR "is well 'underwater,' as pollsters like to say."
Romano said Biden's -16.3 percent NAR reflects the "really bad" situation of the president's popularity, adding: "In fact, the only president with weaker numbers than Biden was Carter, who hit -28.6 percent [NAR] on day 910. At that time, just 29 percent of Americans approved of Carter's performance on average, while 57.6 percent disapproved."
The correspondent recounted that the U.S. was in "much, much worse shape" in 1979, the year before the Democratic Carter lost to Republican former President Ronald Reagan in the 1980 elections. That time, "inflation had skyrocketed by 13.3 percent year-over-year; unemployment was stubbornly stuck around six percent; and the price of oil was in the process of doubling."
"In the past, a president's standing has tended to improve along with conditions in the country. Yet Biden's numbers haven't budged. Since September 2022, his approval rating has remained mired around 40 percent, while his disapproval rating has never broken out of the low to mid-50s." (Related: Joe Biden's favorability rating the lowest of any U.S. president in 70 years.)
The Yahoo News correspondent puts forward several reasons for Biden's persistently low popularity ratings. He wrote: "Is it something systemic? Is it the economy? Or is it Biden himself – his advanced age, his frequent gaffes [and] his ongoing family drama? Can the president turn things around in time for the 2024 election?"
Trump leading against Biden in recent Harvard-Harris poll
In contrast, former President Donald Trump – who Biden stole the 2020 elections from – remains popular among voters. A July poll by Harvard University's Center for American Political Studies and Harris Insights and Analytics reflected this insight, pointing out that Trump could overtake Biden by a five-point margin.
"Trump would beat Biden in a head-to-head matchup by a margin of 45 percent to 40 percent, with a crucial 16 percent of voters undecided," the New York Post described the poll's results. "His margin over Vice President [Kamala] Harris would be an even more yawning 47 to 38 percent."
The same poll also found that 52 percent of respondents would vote for Trump as the GOP's presidential nominee. Incumbent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed at a distant second with 12 percent of respondents favoring him, while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy came in third place with 10 percent.
On the other side of the fence, the poll also found that Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is favored by respondents overall, with 47 percent compared to 26 percent who found him unfavorable. The same result was clear along party lines – with 46 percent of GOP voters, 51 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of independents rooting for him.
The Harvard-Harris poll also asked respondents whether Biden should run for a second presidential term. Sixty-four percent of overall respondents said he should hang up his boots for good, up two points from 62 percent in June. Eighty-eight percent of GOP-leaning respondents did not want a second term for Biden, while three-fourths – 75 percent – of independents shared the same sentiment.
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More related stories:
Survey: 71% of Americans believe Joe Biden is TOO OLD for a second term.
CNN Poll: Joe Biden's favorability rating drops to lowest point yet amid bribery allegations.
Survey: 75% of people in Joe Biden's America believe the country's economy is GETTING WORSE.
Sources include:
HarvardHarrisPoll.com [PDF]
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