Just over five months before the elections in which re-election is at stake, the popularity levels of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, are not improving. The latest survey published by the Gallup firm, which has been measuring the opinion of American citizens about their presidents for decades, shows an approval level of only 39%, still close to the minimum of 37% that it has marked in the worst moments. of his mandate. Of course, this low support is almost triple that received by Congress, whose actions are only approved by 13% of citizens.
As is usually the case with new presidents shortly after assuming the presidency, Biden began his term with relatively high approval ratings, in his case 57%, a level that he set in January 2021, as soon as he was sworn into office, and that kept in April of that year. Biden’s popularity began to sink with the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in the summer of that same year. Then, the high prices of gasoline and food, translated into the highest inflation in 40 years, the immigration crisis and some current problems, were eroding his approval levels, which fell to 38% in July 2022.
The following month, the United States successfully completed an operation to kill Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri with a drone in Kabul, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% and equaled its lowest in the last half century, with a record employment figure, above the pre-pandemic level, and Congress approved the Inflation Reduction Law, with climate and fiscal measures and a reduction in medical and pharmaceutical costs for part of the population. With these and other measures, the president’s approval levels began a comeback that was not consolidated.
Biden’s approval hit a low of 37% in April 2023. It rose above 40% again last summer, but following Israel’s attack on Hamas and initially closed support for the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s response, It plummeted back to 37% in October. The novelty in that month is that the approval of the president by Democratic voters went from 86% to 75% in one month, a record decline of 11 points in the month of the outbreak of the new conflict in the Middle East. Gallup then explained that the daily results strongly suggested that Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel that same day.
Over the past four months, the index has hovered between 38% and 40%, with a complete partisan divide. In May, according to the Gallup poll, Biden received the approval of 82% of Democrats and only 2% of Republicans. The most worrying thing for the president is that his popularity is also low among independent voters, not registered with either of the two major parties. Biden has not received majority approval from him since June 2021. Between them, he achieves 34%, although at least that represents some recovery from last November’s low of 27%.
Biden’s approval rating, although weak, is still well above the historic low of 22% recorded by Harry Truman in February 1952, Gallup recalls. Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush, and George W. Bush all had approval ratings below 30% at some point during their presidencies. Neither Carter nor George Bush Sr. managed to be re-elected. The popularity of the Republicans Nixon and George W. Bush deteriorated in their second term and, after them, the Democratic candidate won the elections. They do not bode well for Biden, although the majority of voters do not like Donald Trump either.
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unpopular congress
Biden’s approval rating, however, is triple that of Congress, at only 13%. Congress is divided, with Republicans holding a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats holding a slim advantage in the Senate. With that composition, it has barely carried out any legislative projects. He raised the debt ceiling, passed the budget after several extensions, and gave the green light to an aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, but beyond that, his achievements have been paltry.
The chaos in which the House of Representatives has been involved during the current legislature, including the motion of no confidence in its president, Kevin McCarthy, seems to have deteriorated its image. During the survey period (May 1-23), Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene filed her motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson, the leader of her party, for his role in passing the bill. international aid package, although that movement failed thanks to Johnson’s support from the Democrats.
Congressional approval has moved below 20% since July 2023 and hit a low of 12% last February. Citizens of all stripes censure his work. It only achieves the approval of 17% of Democrats, 9% of Republicans and 13% of independents.
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