On Sunday, a new poll from ABC News/Ipsos was released, and the results were not kind to President Joe Biden, or to the White House's talking points on the current crises facing the American people. A key takeaway from the poll is how deeply underwater the president is on the issues of inflation and gas prices.
As an ABC News write-up from Brittany Shepherd noted:
Over the past several months, Americans' wallets have been hit by skyrocketing inflation, and now, Biden is feeling that crunch in his approval numbers. Seventy percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of inflation.
The White House faces similarly concerning numbers related to economic recovery, with 58% disapproving, a 12-month high, per the ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel. This presents a political problem for Biden, who must navigate an electorate growing more frustrated across several sectors, while attempting to manage an exploding war in Europe with firmness and authority.
On inflation, President Biden has a 70 percent disapproval rating, compared to 29 percent who approve. On gas prices, 70 percent also disapprove, while 28 percent approve.
Shepherd framed it as how "Americans overwhelmingly support the White House's proposed ban on Russian oil," which is at a supermajority of 77 percent. It's worth noting, though, that such a move was particularly delayed by the Biden administration, and came after some failed talking points from the White House.
I can’t believe the hashtag didn’t work better. https://t.co/rOXnhIc8d7
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) March 13, 2022
Last week, the White House attempted to get #PutinsPriceHike trending, a hashtag that was tweeted out by White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, but, as our friends at Twitchy noted, it didn't quite take.
The Biden administration, including President Biden himself, has placed the blame squarely on Vladimir Putin, prompting Fox News' Peter Doocy to ask last week "are you guys just going to blame Putin for everything until the midterms?"
Peter Doocy to Psaki: Are you guys just going to blame Putin for everything until the midterms? Last month it was the pandemic pic.twitter.com/FXDwN13Tze
— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) March 10, 2022
While these were the worst issues for Biden, they weren't the only ones where he was underwater, and by double digits. His approval ratings for immigration are at 39-59 percent, at 41-58 percent on economic recovery, at 40-58 percent on crime, and at 44-54 percent on climate change.
Even while Shepherd regarded Biden's numbers on Ukraine-Russia as "slightly better," the numbers are still split, with a 48 percent approval rating and 51 percent disapproval rating.
The only issue where Biden is not underwater is on his handling of COVID-19, where he has a 56-42 percent approval rating. This has been the president's best issue, with his approval ratings in previous months being much higher.
The poll also asked about Florida's Parental Rights in Education Bill (HB 1557), which critics have unfairly dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. "On another topic, would you support or oppose legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school," the poll asked. The results came out to 37 percent of respondents supporting, with 62 percent opposing.
The wording failed to emphasize that the bill's text stresses K-3 grades.
The poll was conducted March 11-12, with a random sample of 622 adults and a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 points.
The methodology also notes that there was "an oversample of LGBTQ+ respondents weighted to their correct proportion in the general population," which may apply to the question on the Florida bill. It's worth emphasizing, though, that not all LGBT groups oppose such a bill. The Log Cabin Republicans, for instance, which is "the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies," supported the bill.