Politics

Biden’s Approval Rating Falls Near Record Low As Election Approaches: POLL

President Joe Biden talks on the phone with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 7, 2023, to talk about the Canadian wild fires and the smoke blanketing parts of the U.S. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

President Joe Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 37% in a new Reuters poll, a low rating as he runs for reelection this year.

Biden is the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and is currently trailing former President Donald Trump, his predecessor and the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, in multiple polls of battleground states. Reuters’ poll shows that Biden’s approval rating has steadily declined since March of 2023, and is the lowest since July of 2022, when it reached 36%.

Biden’s approval rating fell precipitously to below 50% in August of 2021 amid the United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was widely criticized for logistical failures in the evacuation of persons as well as a terrorist attack that killed 13 American military enlistees. Currently, his disapproval rating is at 58%, among the highest levels in his presidency.

Biden’s approval rating in the Reuters poll has been corroborated by other polling companies, such as Gallup, whose Feb. 25 poll showed Biden with an approval rating of 38%. Gallup’s recording of 37% approval for Biden, between October and November of 2023, was its lowest rating for him during his presidency.

Reuters also polled respondents about their top policy issues ahead of the general election on Nov. 5. Among them, “extremism” was rated as the most important issue for Democrats, and the third-most-important one for Republicans, with the economy and immigration ranking second and third among voters’ priorities.

Reuters noted that upwards of 90% of Democrats approved and Republicans disapproved of Biden’s performance, respectively. Independent voters, who are widely regarded as a critical bloc of voters to win battleground states, “skewed” toward disapproval, Reuters noted.

The poll was conducted online, among 1,020 adults, between Feb. 23 and 25, 2024, and has a reported error margin of ± 3 percentage points.

Biden’s presidential campaign and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.