Democrat President Joe Biden is facing an increasingly uphill battle with the American public as new polling shows that less than 40% of the country approves of the job that he is doing.
A new Economist/YouGov Poll found that Biden’s approval ratings “on his handling of major issues, have all fallen, dramatically in some cases.”
The poll found that nearly half of the public (49%) disapproved of Biden’s job performance in a poll that was conducted Saturday through Tuesday of this week. The poll found that only 39% of Americans approved of the job Biden is doing as president, a drop of six points from last week.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that Biden’s disapproval rating was at 51% while Rasmussen Reports has had Biden as high as a 56% disapproval rating in recent days.
YouGov America reports:
For the first time, a greater share of Americans disapprove (45%) of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic than approve (42%). This week, just 40% approve of the president’s handling of jobs and the economy, while 47% disapprove. In previous weeks, more usually have approved than have disapproved.
Only 16% of American adults now think the economy is improving, while nearly three times as many, 44%, say it is getting worse. Another 27% say the economy is about the same. At the beginning of the Biden presidency, just as great a share of Americans as today said the economy was worsening (44% in the Jan. 30-Feb. 2 poll), but that changed quickly. In May and for part of June, more people said the economy was improving than worsening. No longer.
Another top line from the report was the Americans were nearly three times more likely to say that the economy was worsening than getting better.
“Democrats remain somewhat positive about the economy: 33% say the economy is getting better while 22% think it is getting worse—but two-thirds of Republicans (66%) and nearly half of Independents (48%) think the economy is getting worse,” the report said. “While those who think the economy is getting better — or not changing – are as likely to assign responsibility to Trump (37%) as to Biden (39%), nearly two-thirds of those who say it is getting worse (62%) place the blame on Biden.”
The poll said Biden’s cratering standing with Americans comes amid economic problems, a pandemic that he has failed to tame, and his disastrous foreign policy decisions in Afghanistan.
“Alongside declining public approval of the president, there also has been a sharp decline in Americans’ overall sense of where the country itself is headed. This week, only one in four Americans (26%) believe the country is headed in the right direction, down from 39% in the June 5-9 poll. Six in ten (60%) see the country as on the wrong track, up from 48% in the same June poll.”
“Here, too, Democrats’ positive sentiment has declined steeply,” the poll added. “Their sense that the country is headed in the right direction dropped nine points this week, to 51% from 60% a week earlier. Just 9% of Republicans and 21% of Independents today think the country is headed in the right direction. Two-thirds of Independents (66%) and 85% of Republicans say it is off on the wrong track. So do one-third of Democrats (35%).”