Biden's Approval Rating Drops to Record Low
The US President is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, with 64 percent of Democratic voters saying they would prefer a new standard-bearer in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a poll.
A New York Times/Siena College poll revealed that voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33 percent job-approval rating.
Widespread concerns about the economy and inflation have helped turn the national mood decidedly dark, both on Biden and the trajectory of the nation. More than three-quarters of registered voters see the United States moving in the wrong direction, a pervasive sense of pessimism that spans every corner of the country, every age range and racial group, cities, suburbs, and rural areas, as well as both political parties.
Only 13 percent of American voters said the nation was on the right track — the lowest point in Times polling since the depths of the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
Another tracker by Civiqs, online polling, and analytics company, indicated on Friday that 29 percent of registered voters in the US approve of the way Biden is handling his job, with 58 percent registering disapproval and 13 percent unsure.
In a sign of deep vulnerability and unease among what is supposed to be his political base, only 26 percent of Democratic voters said the party should renominate him in 2024.
Biden has said repeatedly that he intends to run for re-election in 2024. At 79, he is already the oldest president in American history, and concerns about his age ranked at the top of the list for Democratic voters who want the party to find an alternative.
The backlash against Biden and the desire to move in a new direction was particularly acute among younger voters. In the survey, 94 percent of Democrats under the age of 30 said they would prefer a different presidential nominee.
Jobs and the economy were the most important problem facing the country according to 20 percent of voters, with inflation and the cost of living (15 percent) close behind as prices are rising at the fastest rate in a generation.
One in 10 voters named the state of American democracy and political division as the most pressing issue, about the same share who named gun policies, after several high-profile mass shootings.
The coronavirus pandemic, which so thoroughly disrupted life at the end of the Trump administration and over the first year of Biden’s presidency, has largely receded from voters’ minds, the survey found.
In an open-ended question, fewer than one percent of voters named the virus as the nation’s most important problem.