On Twitter, President Joe Biden’s White House chief of staff is flaunting a poll that shows the American people approve of the way Biden is handling COVID-19 and jobs, but a look at the details of said poll shows that most Americans would describe his actions as president to be “incompetent” and “distracted.”
On Sunday, Axios tweeted about a recent CBS poll that shows most Americans believe that the economy is bad, Biden is “slow to react,” and the state of the country is “uneasy” and “worrying.”
Ron Klain defended his boss by saying, “I hate to spoil the narrative but this poll shows @potus approval rating moving up, and solid public confidence on the two biggest problems he inherited: COVID and jobs.”
I hate to spoil the narrative but this poll shows @potus approval rating moving up, and solid public confidence on the two biggest problems he inherited: COVID and jobs. https://t.co/OPrkWPZxYO
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) May 22, 2022
While that might be true, Biden’s approval rating is still underwater. Only 44% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, according to the CBS poll. Furthermore, a look at the descriptions Americans provide for Biden may explain why the majority of people, or 56%, disapprove of Biden’s job performance.
The poll was conducted May 18-20 and featured a nationally representative sample of 2,041 Americans.
CBS asked respondents to state whether or not certain words would “describe” or “not describe” Biden’s “actions as President so far.” While 53% of Americans said that the term “divisive” does not describe the president’s actions, 62% of Americans also said that the word “unifying” would not be an accurate description either.
Likewise, 62% of Americans said the word “effective” does not apply, while 57% of Americans said the word “distracted” describes Biden’s actions.
According to the poll, most respondents don’t believe that the president is all that interested in the problems facing them, either. When asked, “How much do you think Joe Biden cares about the needs and problems of people like you,” 56% of respondents said “not much” or “not at all.”
On Sunday, The Daily Wire reported that the same CBS poll that found 65% of Americans believe Biden has been “slow to react” to multiple crises like inflation, illegal immigration, soaring gas prices, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Related: Rick Scott: Midterms Are All About Inflation, Biden Is ‘Slow To React’, ‘Behind The Problem’