President Joe Biden is in trouble as he runs for reelection. The Sunday release of a Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Biden's approval rating at just 36 percent, his Biden's record low according to this pollster. "Biden’s overall job approval rating stands at 36 percent, down from 42 percent in February and about the same as the previous low of 37 percent in a Post-ABC poll conducted in early 2022," a write-up from The Washington Post noted. His disapproval level is at 56 percent, with 47 percent saying they "strongly disapprove."
As poll after poll shows, even Biden's fellow Democrats don't want him to be the nominee for 2024. When it comes to this poll, this includes "Democratic-leaning adults," with 36 percent saying they want to Biden to be nominated, and 58 percent responding that they prefer to "nominate someone other than Biden." The poll also noted that Democrats were evenly split in that 47 percent said nominate Biden and 47 percent said nominate someone else.
Biden is faring particularly poorly among independents who usually vote for Democrats, in that just 17 percent of Democratic-leaning independents said they want to see Biden nominated again, while a whopping 77 percent want someone else.
The poll's key findings were summarized in multiple headlines by The Washington Post, including in "Biden faces broad negative ratings at start of campaign, Post-ABC poll finds, " which addressed the concerns above about Democrats wanting their party to nominate someone else.
That write-up also addresses how the 36 percent approval rating is a new low among this poll:
Biden’s approval rating is underwater among a slew of groups that supported him by wide margins in 2020. He stands at 26 percent approval among Americans under age 30, 42 percent among non-White adults, 41 percent among urban residents and 46 percent of those with no religious affiliation. Among independents who voted for Biden in 2020, 57 percent approve while 30 percent disapprove. Among independents who voted for Trump, 96 percent disapprove.
Biden’s overall approval ratings, however, are only part of a broader and largely negative assessment of him as a candidate for reelection.
Matt has also covered how the poll looks particularly bad for the president on the economy, especially as respondents prefer former and potentially future President Donald Trump on the issue, and by double digits. A majority of respondents, at 54 percent, believe that Trump did a better job handling the economy as president, while 36 percent say the same about Biden. This hasn't stopped the Biden administration from gaslighting and lying to the American people about his handling of the economy, though, including and especially when it comes to television ads in battleground states.
Biden Can't Stop Lying in His Campaign Adshttps://t.co/KQhrVDhmmf
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) May 5, 2023
Another similarly damming factor is the concerns that respondents have with Biden's fitness, as is also addressed in another headline, "Biden’s mental sharpness and physical health doubted, Post-ABC poll shows."
While Biden gets higher marks than Trump on being "honest and trustworthy," at 41 percent compared to 33 percent, he gets much lower marks in areas about if he can do the job. For instance, just 32 percent say Biden has the "Mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president," while 54 percent say the same about Trump. Similarly, 33 percent say that Biden is "In good enough physical health to serve effectively as president," while 64 percent say the same about Trump.
When asked if Biden and/or Trump are too old to run, a plurality, at 43 percent, said they are both too old to run. Biden is currently 80, and Trump will turn 77 next year. Twenty-eight percent said that neither of them are too old, which isn't that far ahead of the 26 percent who think "Only Biden is too old." Just 1 percent said "Only Trump is too old."
The poll was conducted April 28-May 3, a few days after Biden made his reelection campaign official. The entire sample included 1,006 adults, for which there was a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll included samples of 438 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 396 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, for which there was a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
During Sunday's edition of ABC News' "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos referred to the poll as "just brutal for President Biden," a characterization which Rick Klein, the ABC News political director, agreed with with an "absolutely."
Klein also highlighted other concerns, including how Biden is not leading with black voters by the amount he needs to. "He carried black voters by 75 points in 2020. He is up just 35. That may sound like a lot, but the fact of the matter is, in modern politics, that is not the kind of number that a Democrat needs to be victorious," Klein explained. He also went on to point out that while Biden carried Independents by 13 points in 2020 against Trump, he's now losing them by 9 points. And, 68 percent of voters think that Biden is too old for another term, while just 44 percent say the same about Trump.
Concerns about the poll took place during the panel discussion as well, which included former DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile.
Brazile, whom Stephanopoulos turned to first to discuss the poll, candidly shared how "it's sobering" how "the coalition that elected Joe Biden, with the historic numbers that we saw in 2020, that coalition right now is fragmented," adding "that should concern" the White House. Another concern Brazile thought worthwhile to mention is that the White House is "still unable to get a real, good strong message to the American people, not just on the accomplishments but where they want to take the country."
The White House should be "concerned” that the “coalition” of voters who helped elect Pres. Biden in 2020 is now “fragmented,” former DNC chair @DonnaBrazile says of a new poll from @ABC News/WaPo. https://t.co/oBuVAq4MBf pic.twitter.com/m5pfksM3hq
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 7, 2023
As the panelists further discussed the 2024 election, including thee 2024 Democratic presidential primary, co-panelist Susan Page offered that it "absolutely" causes other Democrats to rethink a challenge to Biden. She listed Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois as examples, referring to them as "ambitious."
Page also pointed to examples where the incumbent president has won the nomination for president in an intra-party challenge, but went on to lose the general election, having been "so weakened by an intra-party challenge."
Included were the examples of President Jimmy Carter being challenged by Ted Kennedy in 1980, only to then lose to President Ronald Reagan in the general. Reagan had actually challenged President Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican presidential primary, and Ford went on to lose to Carter. Page also mentioned President George H.W. Bush, who fended off a challenge from Pat Buchanan for the nomination in 1992, but lost to President Bill Clinton in the general election.
"If this poll is confirmed by, say, another reputable poll, that is going to be, I think, a--a growing concern within the Biden White House," Page warned.
Biden is currently facing challenges from Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is Ted Kennedy's nephew and the son of Robert F. Kennedy. A Fox News poll showed RFK Jr. with 19 percent support, while an Emerson poll showed him with 21 percent support.
“What do we know about intra-party challenges for presidents? They often keep the nomination…But they turn around and lose the general election,” USA Today’s @SusanPage tells @GStephanopoulos as new @ABC News/WaPo poll shows low approval for Pres. Biden. https://t.co/oBuVAq4MBf pic.twitter.com/YeogNBZn17
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 7, 2023
