Remember when we were told that President Joe Biden would see a bump in the polls after the infrastructure bill passed? Well, despite that happening earlier this month, with Biden signing it into law several days later, that does not look to be the case. Townhall has been covering how polls continue to look bad for the president and, sure enough, a poll released on Wednesday shows a new low for that poll. According to the NPR/Marist poll, Biden has a 42 percent approval rating and a 50 percent disapproval rating.
Just 3 percent of Republicans approve of Biden's job performance, while 81 percent of Democrats approve. Both are low for the NPR/Marist poll, but a graph included by Domenico Montanaro noted in his write-up for NPR shows that the decline is particularly significant for Democrats. Biden's approval rating among Independents went up however, and is at 44 percent.
The poll particularly hones in on how voters view Biden's handling of the economy. As Montanaro wrote:
And just 42% approve of how Biden is handling the economy, while a majority — 52% — disapproves, his worst marks on the issue since taking office. His rating has dropped 6 points since September and is off from his high of 54% in April.
A slim majority of independents (51%) now disapproves of his handling of the economy as well. It's a key group and one Biden won in the 2020 presidential election.
When asked what their top economic concern was, a plurality of respondents, at 39 percent said inflation was their top concern. This was also a top concern for Republicans (58 percent) and Independents (42 percent) as well. The next highest concern was wages, at 18 percent, which was a top concern for Democrats, at 31 percent. Other concerns included labor shortages (11 percent), housing costs, unemployment, and gas prices, with the latter tied at 9 percent.
"Regardless of strong job numbers or the soaring stock market, Americans are worried about the economy and the reason is inflation," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, who is quoted in Montanaro's write-up.
This finding that Americans are concerned with inflation, and thus give Biden low marks, is consistent with other polls.
As Leah also reported on Wednesday, in reference to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll:
According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov survey, 77 percent of Americans say inflation is affecting them as the holiday season kicks off. Worse for the administration, a majority—57 percent—place the blame squarely on President Biden.
Seventeen percent of respondents said inflation was the “most important issue facing America” – higher than other issues, including Covid-19.
The DNC War Room may want to keep abreast of the polls when it comes to sending out such emails.
This was a Wednesday inbox message btw! pic.twitter.com/zvYcqv5u1s
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) November 24, 2021
According to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average on Biden's approval rating on the economy, the president is down to a 37.9 percent approval rating, with 55.7 percent disapproving on the issue.
The poll does show Democrats with an edge in congressional races for next year's midterm election, by 46 percent to Republicans' 41 percent, but this appears to be an outlier. Other polls have shown Republicans with such an advantage, including a Washington Post/ABC News poll which showed an advantage by 10 percentage points, as Guy highlighted.
Montanaro also acknowledges that by 43 to 41 percent, respondents give Republicans a slight edge as to which party would handle the economy better.
The NPR/Marist poll was conducted November 16-19 with 1,048 adults, including 969 registered voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, and 4.3 percentage points for registered voters.