Earlier this week, as Spencer covered, Quinnipiac University released a poll showing that President Joe Biden had an approval rating of just 33 percent. While it's worth noting that it is currently appears to be an outlier, it's bad news however you look at it, especially as one Twitter user pointed out, Quinnipiac tends to oversample Democrats. The numbers are so bad that even Democrats' allies in the mainstream media are having to address them and admit as much.
While morning shows for the main networks such as CBS, ABC, and NBC virtually skipped coverage, as Scott Whitlock pointed out for NewsBusters on Thursday morning, at least MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday night acknowledged them. "That is a new low for his presidency," she shared with viewers.
CNN's "New Day" also covered that 33 percent approval rating, but, as Whitlock also pointed out, it was in the context of the midterms. As host John Berman asked CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten "When, Harry, though, does a President’s party gain seats [in the midterms]," Enten had to explain that it's certainly not in this scenario.
"Yeah. It happen a few times, if we look back at history. One is when the president's approval rating is above 60 percent. That’s not the case right now. Quinnipiac had Biden’s approval rating at 33 percent. The average is closer to the lower 40s. But still, not anywhere near that 60 percent mark," Enten explained.
Another example, which is not at play, includes when a popular governor is running for a seat, such as when Joe Manchin (D-WV) won his Senate seat in 2010. And another includes when a state leans towards the president's party in the prior two elections, likewise not at play.
"No. Keep a close eye at Biden's approval rating, which is way off where an incumbent president wants to be to pick up seats in either the Senate or the House. It just isn't as high as it is to gain those seats historically," Berman also commented.
If Berman had thought by asking his question that there was any real chance that Democrats can pick up seats in the midterms, at least enough to make grow their bare bones majorities, it's worth asking what he's been smoking.
Last month, Cook Political Report projected that the GOP will take control of the House in the 2022 midterms. In November, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) predicted that the GOP could flip 60 seats.
The president's party almost always loses seats in his first midterm election, but 60 seats would be on par with the highest pickup in recent history. In 2010, Democrats lost 63 seats in the House when Barack Obama was president and 6 in the Senate. Obama's approval rating was at 44 percent in 2010.
Exemptions to presidents losing seats is when Republicans picked up 8 House seats and 2 Senate seats in the 2002 election, when George W. Bush was president. The country was also united around being there for each other following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In September 2002, Gallup showed President George W. Bush with a 66 percent approval rating.
There isn't just hope for the GOP to take control of the House, but the Senate as well. As Stuart Rothenberg wrote for RollCall on Wednesday, "Don’t rule out a GOP Senate wave." The article was tweeted out by CNN's Chris Cillizza, who has previously warned about Biden's poll numbers, including how they could look bad for the midterms.
"Don’t rule out a GOP Senate wave" -- @StuPolitics https://t.co/lfigJOsn33
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) January 13, 2022
There's also Chuck Todd, who does "Meet the Press Daily" on MSNBC and "Meet the Press" on Sundays for NBC. On Thursday's episode of the former, Todd exclaimed "my goodness" when speaking about Biden's presidency with reporter Peter Alexander.
"Look, I know they're never supposed to look at the poll numbers, but, my goodness, in the last six months it does seem as if the Haley Barber saying of 'good gets better and bad gets worse' has been true. Every time I think the White House thought they've hit bottom there seems to be a new bottom," Todd said.
While Alexander offered that the White House ought to hope the poll is indeed an outlier, he did call to mind that Biden's poll numbers aren't looking good otherwise. "And Chuck, as we discussed on "Meet the Press" this weekend, and as you've been saying for months, as goes COVID so goes this presidency."
As I've been covering, multiple polls also show Biden failing on his handling of COVID, an issue where once commanded a sizable lead in approval ratings.
Back in April, Todd regarded Biden's approval rating of 53 percent as "really solid" and "the new 60."