Things continue to fare poorly for President Joe Biden with each new poll that comes out about his job performance and handling of the issues. The reason it's particularly noteworthy is because of who Biden is faring poorly with. Previous VIP articles have covered how the president is in trouble with Independents, a key voting bloc that helped get him elected in 2020. Biden's base was also less than thrilled with his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Polls continue to keep showing that as well.
Polls released earlier in the week include one from ABC News/Ipsos, which on September 29 released the results of their poll conducted September 24-28.
Such a poll actually has Biden faring less catastrophically than he has in others, considering a majority of respondents still approve of how he's handled COVID, by an approval-disapproval rate of 57 to 42 percent. The same goes for economic recovery, though that one is particularly narrow, 51 to 48 percent. On the question of how Biden is handling "Rebuilding the United States’ infrastructure," respondents approve by 55 to 44 percent.
There's a pretty big caveat, though. Biden still went down in his approval ratings for all of these issues.
The president was also underwater on the issues of "Immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border," with an approval-disapproval rating of 33 to 66 percent; gun violence, which is at 38 to 60 percent; crime, which is at 43 to 55 percent; and at Afghanistan which is at 38 to 61 percent. The president also had 38 percent approval when it came to his handling of Afghanistan for an August poll, except his disapproval rating was slightly better, in that it was at 59 percent.
A poll write-up from Quinn Scanlan for ABC News highlighted the concerns. "At critical moment, confidence in Biden's ability to handle range of issues eroding: POLL," her headline read.
She wrote, with emphasis being mine:
Compared to an August ABC News/Ipsos poll, public approval of how Biden is handling key issues -- the pandemic, immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, gun violence and even rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, the issue he's pushing this week -- is on the decline. Dissatisfaction among Republicans and independents is fueling the decline, but the president's ratings are also hampered by more lackluster approval among members of his own party than presidents typically enjoy.
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His overall approval rating now, measured by FiveThirtyEight's average at 49% disapprove and 45% approve, has worsened since late August, and that sentiment is reflected in the issue-specific approvals measured in this most recent ABC News/Ipsos poll.
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In politics today, partisans usually are more unified in their support of or opposition to particular issues or people, but that is not the case for Biden on multiple issues. The vast majority of Democrats back the president on his handling of COVID-19 (91%), rebuilding U.S. infrastructure (87%) and the economic recovery (84%), but support among members of his party drops for his handling of Afghanistan (69%), gun violence (65%) and the immigration situation at the southern border (60%).
Without overwhelming support from his party, Biden's approval among U.S. adults overall falls below 40% on all three of those issues -- 38% on gun violence, 38% on Afghanistan and 33% on immigration and the situation at the border.
The poll was conducted with a sample of 1,101 adults using the probability-based KnowledgePanel® and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Amie Parnes and Brett Samuels reporting for The Hill, referenced the poll, as they noted that the "poll found the president's approval on his handling of the pandemic dropped 7 percentage points from August to September among independents, and Biden saw a 9-point drop among independents on his handling of infrastructure."
Another poll was released on Friday, from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The findings on the issues were similar to the ABC News/Ipsos poll mentioned above, and it gives Biden an actual overall approval rating of 50 percent approving compared to 49 percent who disapprove.
This 50 percent approval rating is one of the more kind ones we've seen from polls, but it is a record low approval and record high disapproval for this specific poll. Further, a plurality of respondents "strongly disapprove" of Biden, by 32 percent. Eighteen percent "strongly approve."
The poll is also revealed to have a breakdown of 46 percent Democrats, which includes 21 percent who say they are "Strong Democrat;" 19 percent Independents; and 36 percent Republicans.
Just as Scanlan focused on for ABC News, Josh Boak and Emily Swanson in their write-up for the AP included how Biden has been affected from the loss of support of his base. Emphasis is mine:
Since July, Biden’s approval rating has dipped slightly among Democrats (from 92% to 85%) and among independents who don’t lean toward either party (from 62% to 38%). Just 11% of Republicans approve of the president, which is similar to July.
Approval also dipped somewhat among both white Americans (49% to 42%) and Black Americans (86% to 64%).
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Biden struggles on several issues related to foreign policy. Forty-three percent say they approve of his handling of foreign policy overall, and only 34% approve of his handling of the situation in Afghanistan. Even among Democrats, only 54% say they approve of Biden’s handling of Afghanistan. Just 10% of Republicans say the same.
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Just 35% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, down from 43% in April, when it was already one of Biden’s worst issues. Immigration is a relative low point for Biden within his own party with 60% of Democrats saying they approve, along with 6% of Republicans.
The poll was conducted September 23-27 with 1,099 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. This poll is likewise referenced in Parnes and Samuels' reporting for The Hill. They also included analysis from others:
And an Associated Press poll released Friday found Biden’s approval rating among independents had dropped from 62 percent in July to 38 percent in September. Friday's poll has Biden's overall approval rating at 50 percent, down from 54 percent in August.
Political analysts link the bad numbers to a difficult few months for Biden, and to a lack of results with his legislative agenda, which is stuck in Congress.
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Privately, some Democrats have expressed concern about the recent polling numbers they’re seeing for Biden. They wonder if the surveys have lasting power, particularly as critical gubernatorial races loom in the coming weeks and as next year’s midterm elections draw nearer.
Biden ran on a promise to break Washington’s fever after the Trump years, but has had limited success. Opposition to the infrastructure bill from progressives in his party could be particularly problematic in reaching independents who just want to see things get done.
“I think there is definitely some concern that Biden isn’t really doing the things he said he’d be doing, like making things run smoothly again after four tumultuous years,” said one Democratic strategist. “A lot of people feel like they haven’t seen much of that lately, especially if you’re not drinking the Biden Kool-Aid.”