The latest survey of Americans' views of the two major political parties conducted by Gallup shows that not only has Joe Biden been terrible for Democrats as a brand, the president's failures have been so substantive that he's upset the historical trend in America showing which party is more favored by the public to govern.
In January 2021 when Joe Biden took the oath of office, Gallup showed Democrats with 48 percent favorability while the GOP trailed by 11 points at 37 percent. In the 600+ days since of Biden in the Oval Office and his party's majorities holding power in Congress, the whole equation has flipped just in time for November's midterms.
The latest survey from Gallup shows that Democrats' favorability has slid to 39 percent while the GOP's swung around to increase to 44 percent favorability. According to Gallup, the new data showing Democrats lagging behind the GOP "buck the overall historical trend, in which Americans have typically viewed the Democratic Party more favorably than the GOP."
What's more, while the GOP remains mostly in-line with its historic trend in Gallup's surveys of partisan favorability, a release of the latest polling conducted in September notes "the Democratic Party's current rating is 12 points below the 51% average and the worst since March 2015."
Not only has Biden failed to build the U.S. economy "back better," he's led Democrats into their worst position since before Donald Trump came down his golden escalator to declare his candidacy for President of the United States.
What may be worse for Biden — explaining in part why so many Democrats are willing to say that Biden shouldn't run in 2024 — is how much Democrats' favorability has fallen among their own party loyalists. Gallup's survey breaks down the numbers, finding that in January 2021 when Biden took office, 94 percent of Democrats viewed their party favorably. But in the latest survey, just 84 percent of Democrats still view their party favorably.
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In that same period of time, Republicans who view their own party favorably increased from 78 percent to 87 percent, meanwhile independents hold similar sour views of both major parties, with just 34 percent of nonpartisan respondents saying they view either Democrats or the GOP favorably.
Gallup dove deeper into the disparity and tanking approval for the Democrat brand and found unsurprising results — Biden has shown his party unable to handle pressing needs, responded dismissively if at all to a range of crises that impact Americans, and has refused to accept responsibility for the carnage along the way.
Here's where, on the issues, the GOP is lapping Democrats at being able to govern well according to Gallup's survey:
Americans are significantly more likely to view the Republican Party than the Democratic Party as better at protecting the U.S. from international terrorism and military threats, 57% versus 37%. While both readings are statistically similar to last year's, the latest data represent the highest percentage recorded for the Republican Party. Since 2002, the GOP has outpaced the Democratic Party by an average nine points on this measure.
Nearly all Republicans (95%), 57% of independents and 12% of Democrats give the GOP the edge on protecting the U.S. from foreign threats.
At a time when Americans are worried about inflation and the nation's economy in general, the public sees the Republican Party as better able to keep the country prosperous, by a 10-point margin. The 51% of U.S. adults who believe the GOP is the better choice ties the highest on record for the party.
Ninety-four percent of Republicans, 47% of independents and 9% of Democrats give the Republican Party the advantage on keeping the nation prosperous.
Looking at that data, it's no wonder Joe Biden and his party's midterm candidates are desperately trying to make 2022 about abortion and not the economy or national security, especially when the White House denied, then dismissed, then pretended to address inflation and continually mucks its way into significant gaffes on the world stage.
While Gallup notes that party favorability polls have rarely been helpful in reading electoral tea leaves to determine federal election outcomes, it's worth noting to understand why Democrats painted themselves into a corner with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as their national figureheads — and another reason why many are looking for a fresh start in 2024 rather than a retread of 2020 and the mess that's happened since.
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