Some fresh polling from The Washington Post and ABC News — the first read on Americans' opinions of President Biden and Democrats since infrastructure was passed by the House — has more bad news for the White House and Democrats looking to right their party's ship ahead of the midterms.
When asked whether they approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president, a majority of Americans — 53 percent — said they disapprove while just 41 percent said they approve. On the economy, 55 percent says they disapprove of Biden's handling while more Americans disapprove than approve of his handling of the Wuhan coronavirus 49 to 47 percent.
As Rebecca covered earlier, the passage of the president's infrastructure legislation — after months of Democrat infighting and multiple delays — should have given Biden a much needed bump in the polls:
As Darragh Roche reported for Newsday on Thursday morning, "Joe Biden's Approval Ratings Set to Bounce Back As Infrastructure Deal Widely Supported."
There's also a slew of emails and tweets from the DNC and the DNC War Room touting the passage of the infrastructure bill and the benefits it will supposedly bring.
Well, if that was what Democrats and sympathetic media expected, the WaPo/ABC News poll is a big "womp womp" for the White House.
The just-released survey also asked about Biden's accomplishments after about ten months in office. Just 35 percent said he's accomplished a "great deal" or "good amount" while 63 percent said they felt Biden has so far accomplished "not much" or "nothing." A slim majority — 51 percent — say that Biden is not keeping most of his major campaign promises.
Brutal stuff here: Just 31% say Biden has kept his campaign promises
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) November 14, 2021
Biden supports among independents: 35%
59% say they’re concerned Biden will do too much to increase the size of government
71% say the economy is poor
81% say parents should have a say in child’s education https://t.co/qClRZJpP8G
Recommended
In terms of Biden and the Democrats' larger agenda, 59 percent of Americans are "more concerned" that "Biden will do too much to increase the size and role of government" in the U.S., compared to 38 percent who are less concerned about Biden's work to expand government.
When asked to evaluate the economy, 70 percent view the "state of the nation's economy these days" as "negative" while 29 percent view it as "positive" with just two percent saying the economy under Biden is "excellent."
With inflation continuing to hamper Americans' budgets, 34 percent of Americans blame Biden a "great deal" compared to 21 percent who do "not at all" blame the president for rising prices.
On the heels of President Biden and his administration's trip to Glasgow, Scotland to engage with world leaders on climate change and a global agreement to take action aimed at stopping what they say is an existential threat, the American people aren't sold on the idea. When asked about global warming, more Americans said it was a "longer-term problem that requires more study before government action is taken" (49 percent) than said it was an "urgent problem that requires immediate government action" (45 percent).
As if these numbers weren't already bad news for Biden this year, the generic congressional ballot question posed to respondents of the WaPo/ABC News poll shows even more bad news for Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms now less than one year away where their narrow majorities in the House and Senate will face an energetic challenge from Republicans.
When asked "If the election for the U.S. House of Representatives were being held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate in your congressional district?" 51 percent said they'd vote for the Republican while 41 percent said they'd vote for the Democrat — a +10 spread for the GOP.
The poll also suggested Republicans could capitalize on kitchen table issues — the likes of which Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin emphasized to prevail in Virginia — including parental oversight of education. By a margin of 81 percent to 17 percent, Americans said parents should have "a lot" or "some" say in what their child's school teaches rather than "not much" or "not at all."
The Washington Post/ABC News poll was conducted over the phone from November 7th to 10th among a random sample of 1,001 adults. When asked to self-identify, the party breakdown for respondents was 27 percent Democrat, 26 percent Republican, and 37 percent independent.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member