Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have been singing the praises of President Joe Biden for weeks now, pointing to what they consider legislative wins, like the misnamed "Inflation Reduction Act." That red wave is now not only a red ripple, but Democrats might hang onto the House and the Senate, some claim. One metric the New York Times used was Biden's aviators, as Spencer exposed. In more serious news, though, Biden's polling performance is another metric.
The poll in question being hyped by multiple outlets is a Reuters/Ipsos poll last updated on August 23. Making the excitement even more laughable is that the poll itself bears a headline that "57% of Americans disapprove of the president."
Further down, in a write-up from Jason Lange, it's mentioned that "Biden approval rises to 41%, highest since early June," with these recent results being the first time Biden is above 40 percent in that time period.
As Lange also makes note of:
Biden's lowest ratings of 36% - in four weekly polls in May, June and July - rivaled the lows of his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose popularity bottomed out at 33% in December 2017.
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Democrats are expected to lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives in a Nov. 8 election, but forecasters say they have better odds of keeping control of the Senate. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week gave Republicans only a 50-50 chance of taking back control of that chamber.
Even with control only of the House, Republicans would be able to bring Biden's legislative agenda to a halt and launch potentially politically damaging investigations.
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Biden's overall approval rating has been below 50% since August of last year as Americans grapple with inflation and an economy scarred by the COVID-19 health crisis.
Outlets promoting the poll with headlines focusing on Biden's highest approval rating in that less than three month time period include the Independent, People, and The Hill.
Newsweek's Ewan Palmer also highlighted earlier this week how "Biden's Approval Rating Has Not Been Higher in Three Months," citing a FiveThirtyEight approval rating. At the start of the month, he wrote about "Joe Biden's Latest Approval Rating Lowest for Any President," citing his 38 percent approval rating according to a Gallup poll.
It's important to note that while Biden's approval ratings "rivaled the lows of" former President Donald Trump according to Reuters/Ipsos, other polls showed Biden's lowest approval ratings worse than Trump. A damning May 31 report from NBC News focused on how this has been a point of consternation for the current president.
RealClearPolitics (RCP) currently has Biden at a 41.6 percent approval rating, while FiveThirtyEight similarly has him at a 41.4 percent approval rating.
At this same point going the 2018 midterms, when Republicans lost 40 seats in the House, RCP shows polls ranged from having Trump's approval ratings in the high 30s to the high 40s, with at least some polls showing Trump with the better approval rating. His overall average approval rating for 2018 was at 42.5 percent.
While they may be better than Biden's record approval rating low in the mid to high 30s, these numbers aren't exactly great, and certainly not ahead of the midterms if this is where they peak or they don't get much better.
Biden was sitting at an even slightly better FiveThirtyEight average approval rating in January, at 43 percent, when CNN's Chris Cillizza trashed a White House memo as "baffling" for promoting that 43 percent figure.