There's been a slew of polls released recently when it comes to President Joe Biden's approval ratings. With each poll that comes out, Biden isn't doing well. He hasn't been doing well for some time. This president gets low marks for his handling on a wide range of issues, though his administration still gaslights the rest of us into thinking this country is doing well for a variety of reasons. Believe it or not, though, the approval ratings that Biden is facing in some of the polls are actually an improvement.
Biden's currently at a RealClearPolitics (RCP) average of 42.5 percent, while 53.3 percent disapprove, leaving him with a spread of -10.8, which is still not great. Almost a month ago, on May 31, he was at a spread of -14.5.
When it comes to what's giving him that boost of sorts, it's because of outlier polls like the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist one, which claims that Biden still has 47 percent approval among registered voters, while only 49 percent supposedly disapprove. It's worth noting that the poll includes more Democrats and Democrat-leaning Independents, at 548 of them, compared to the 467 Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents. Then there's the Economist/YouGov poll, which also claims that 47 percent of registered voters approve of Biden, while 50 percent disapprove. That poll also had slightly more Democrats, 33 percent of them, compared to the 31 percent of Republican respondents.
To be fair, there's also a poll from the Daily Kos/Civiqs in there, which shows Biden at a spread of -18, with a 37 percent approval rating among registered voters and a 55 percent disapproval rating.
One of the recently-released polls, though, actually addresses this sort of high for Biden in their write-up. A Monday headline for Gallup read that "At 43%, Biden's Job Approval Rating Highest Since August." That 43 percent is among adults, and 54 percent still disapprove.
As the write-up explains, the poll was conducted June 1-22, starting around the time that Biden signed the bill to raise the debt ceiling, which passed with bipartisan support. Gallup credits Biden's boost to the 41 percent approval rating from Independents. "In the wake of a tense negotiation with congressional Republicans to raise the country’s debt limit and avoid fiscal default, Biden has recorded his highest approval rating since last August thanks to independents, who often respond positively to bipartisanship," the write-up noted.
Republicans have hovered at a 6 percent approval rating for some time, and 82 percent of Democrats approve of Biden. It's noteworthy that this is not the highest approval rating from members of Biden's own party in recent months, though. In March, he had an 87 percent approval rating among Democrats.
The poll surveyed 1,013 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Another recent poll that received attention came from NBC News, where 43 percent of registered voters approve of his job performance, while 53 percent disapprove. The poll came out just in time for Sunday's "Meet the Press," where host Chuck Todd discussed the results, highlighting how it showed "voters are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country," with another takeaway being how "they're concerned about the mental and physical wellbeing of President Biden." A Tuesday headline of "Poll: 68% of voters have worries about Biden’s mental and physical health" also highlighted as much.
When it comes to the numbers, 68 percent of voters say they have "major" or "moderate" concerns with "Joe Biden not having the necessary mental and physical health to be president," and that number's only gone up. Even more telling is that that includes 43 percent of Democrats. Those numbers have only gotten up.
A similar question asks about voter concerns with "Joe Biden being re-elected and serving another four years as president," with 60 percent saying they have those "major" or "moderate" concerns.
NBC POLL: Biden's approval rating "sits at just 43%."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 25, 2023
"A full 68% of voters — including 43% of Democrats, which is twice what it was in 2020 — say they are concerned that Biden does not have the necessary mental and physical health to be president." pic.twitter.com/4WPnuhDQo3
In highlighting how 74 percent believe the country is on the wrong track, Todd also spoke to viewers about "this moment," in that "we have had this sustained period of 70 percent about a year now," highlighting how "the last two periods in the history of this poll that we've had this kind of sustained negativity about the direction of the country was before the '92 election and before the 2008 election. Both of those changed the party controlling the White House."
It's entirely possible that the American people will wake up and kick the Democrats out of office.
Another newsworthy part of the poll, is that as Julio covered earlier on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris is even more unpopular, given her a net rating of -17 in that NBC News poll as only 32 percent of registered voters have a positive view, while 47 percent disapprove. That's actually the record-low net-negative rating since NBC began polling.
In response to that NBC poll showing Kamala Harris with a record-low net-negative rating, White House chief of staff tells @erinpdoherty that the answer is to get her out in public more:
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2023
“We just need to make sure that we do a good job of exposing.”
While history may very well repeat itself when it comes to the sentiments about direction of the country that Todd noted in 1992 and 2008, history failed to repeat itself in 2022, when it comes to how many seats Democrats were expected to lose but did not.
In other words, it's still entirely possible for Biden to continue to perform terribly leading up to the 2024 election when he is on the ballot, only to pull off a win. This is especially the case if the Republican Party doesn't rise to the occasion and manages to screw up this election. If they want to win, they better pay close attention this time to how to actually do that.