Americans' view of President Biden's job performance has been in the doldrums for months, with even Democrats and a concerning number of independents increasingly souring on the job he's doing. After months spent with underwater approval, Gallup delivered more bad news for Biden in the same week he announced via prerecorded video that he was running for reelection in 2024.
Their latest survey of Americans' view of Biden, just 37 percent approve of the job he's doing — that's the lowest point of Biden's presidency. Gallup conducted the poll from April 3 to April 25, the day Biden announced he was running again.
Joe Biden’s job approval rating as president is now 37%, the lowest in his presidency to date. https://t.co/jfaRzy9dgH pic.twitter.com/LJ2FW6ZM0M
— GallupNews (@GallupNews) April 27, 2023
Biden's new low is three points below where it was in March and five points lower than his February approval rating. Gallup noted that the steady "decline has pulled down Biden’s job approval average for his recently completed ninth quarter in office, which spanned Jan. 20 through April 19, to 39.7%," also "the lowest quarterly average in his presidency."
Notably, Biden's approval rating average for his ninth quarter in office is worse than both Jimmy Carter's and Donald Trump's in the same time period.
Broken down by party, just 83 percent of Democrats still approve of the job Biden's doing, while the president's approval among independents sunk to 31 percent, down nine points from February's poll. Somehow, four percent of Republicans currently approve of Biden's performance.
Biden's mismanagement of the economy is, as has been the case before, a significant millstone around the neck of president's approval:
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index summarizes Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or worse. In the new survey, 16% rate the economy as excellent or good, 37% say it is “only fair” and 47% poor (up from 43% in March).
Meanwhile, 19% say the economy is getting better and 75% worse, compared with ratings of 23% and 72%, respectively, in March.
Those numbers are likely because, despite promising he would build America back better than it was before COVID-19, President Biden has failed to recoup all the jobs lost during the pandemic, trigged decades-high inflation, and set the U.S. on a collision course with a recession and surging unemployment.
Gallup provides more reasons why those asking themselves whether they're better off today than they were four years ago are likely answering with an easy "no."
Today, both gas prices and inflation remain elevated, though they are lower than a year ago. The Federal Reserve has continued to raise interest rates in an attempt to slow inflation. The job market remains strong, with unemployment at 3.5%. However, dozens of major U.S. companies have in recent months announced plans to cut their workforces. The U.S. also recently experienced two of the largest U.S. bank failures in its history, for Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Many economists fear that a recession is possible in the near future, and the federal government is facing an impending deadline to raise the national debt limit or be unable to pay its bills.
Gallup's bottom line? "Biden’s decision to seek a second term comes at the weakest point in his presidency" while his "support has mainly been stuck in the low 40% range since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan," an embarrassing and deadly boondoggle. "Now it has fallen below the 40% mark for just the second time in his presidency, as Americans’ confidence in the economy slips further."