Among the last 11 national polls aggregated by Real Clear Politics, President Joe Biden's job approval has dipped into the 30's in seven of them. His "best" number is 43 percent. On average, Biden is nearly 16 points underwater, with his average approval falling below 39 percent. Quinnipiac's data was especially gruesome for Biden last week, but this latest survey from Civiqs -- which measures Biden's numbers in each state, with more than 200,000 overall respondents -- is even worse. It's an outlier, but not much of one at this point:
Biden approval rating drops to 33 percent, hitting new low in Civiqs poll
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 12, 2022
Biden Job Approval
Approve 33%
Disapprove 56%
Independents
Approve 21%
Disapprove 66%
Approve/Disapprove
AZ: 30/60
GA: 31/58
GA: 32/57
NV: 33/57
PA: 34/56
WI: 35/56
MI: 35/54https://t.co/aNSbAOfokX
For the sake of argument, let's grant the proposition that this is too much of an outlier, and therefore spot Biden five net points on all of these totals. He'd still be at 38 percent approval nationally -- and at 40 percent or worse in these key states, all of which are hosting marquee Senate and/or gubernatorial races. Democrats on the ballot in these places would have to substantially out-perform Biden's job approval rating to have a shot at winning. An unenviable position. As Ed Morrissey notes at Hot Air, based on the Civiqs numbers, Biden is only right-side-up in two states at this stage (et tu, Massachusetts?):
Biden has managed to get to his all-time low in job approval, as well as states in which he’s appreciated. His 33/56 is his lowest on approval and ties his highest in disapproval, while only Hawaii and Vermont put him in positive territory...Put aside the approval numbers and check out how bad it’s gotten for Biden on his personal favorability rating. Only five states give him a net positive rating, and one of those — New York — is only a 47/47 tie.
It's understandable why Biden's job approval standing is so low, in light of...basically everything. But his personal unfavorability is now identical to his job disapproval number. In other words, his personal appeal has run dry, in addition to his political and leadership appeal. That's a losing combination. Fortunately for Biden, he has a crack squad of spinmeisters and comms professionals ready to help him put his best foot forward:
Doocy: "Biden once bragged about the stock market 'hitting record, after record, after record on my watch.' How about now?"
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) June 13, 2022
Jean-Pierre: "The American people are well positioned to face these challenges because of the economic historic gains that we have made under [Biden]." pic.twitter.com/sjLLE0aCQH
Re-read that sentence from KJP. I suspect Republicans absolutely would love to make the 2022 midterms a referendum on whether the American people agree with the assessment that they're well-positioned to face the current economic challenges thanks to Biden's "historic gains." If those are the battle lines, major reach seats like this could conceivably come into play. And it doesn't seem like the new press secretary's briefing skills are markedly improving yet:
Karine Jean-Pierre has NO UPDATE on the baby formula shortage, despite recognizing that "it's been a couple of days since we've been asked that question." pic.twitter.com/US0LOWDZAl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 13, 2022
But there's a lot of leeway given by journos when you're a Democratic spokesperson, especially one with 'historic' identity attributes:
Recommended
Meanwhile on ABC: https://t.co/3Zab5eFv1e
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 12, 2022
I suppose we'll just be treated to variations of this insulting nonsense for months to come:
BIDEN: "Today's inflation report confirms what Americans already know — Putin's price hike is hitting America hard."pic.twitter.com/eHK3EiJK45
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 10, 2022
Going great, gang:
BREAKING: Joe Biden’s job approval hits ALL TIME LOW in 538 average of polls.
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 13, 2022
Biden has dropped below 40%
average for the first time in his presidency
39.7% approve, 53.6% disapprove pic.twitter.com/16Fqte729g
Historic gains, everyone.