The bad news continues for President Joe Biden, as new data shows Biden’s approval rating among young people has collapsed by double digits in his first 14 months as president.
According to a report from Gallup, over the course of Biden’s presidency so far, his approval rating declined by 19 points among millennials, from 60% approval to 41%, and 21 points among Generation Z, from 60% to 39%. Older generations, meanwhile, had changed their opinions significantly less. “As a result, older Americans are now more likely to approve of the president than younger Americans are,” Gallup reported.
The report analyzed aggregate data from Gallup’s polling over three distinct periods: January-June 2021, the first six months of his presidency, what the report called the “honeymoon phase”; July and August 2021; and September 2021-March 2022. Gallup interviewed some 6,000 U.S. adults in each of the two six-month periods, and another 2,000 adults in July and August 2021.
“During Biden’s honeymoon period, 60% of both Generation Z adults and millennials approved of the job he was doing, putting these groups above the national average approval rating. By the summer, as coronavirus cases unexpectedly rose, Biden had lost significant support among Generation Z, millennials and Generation X, ranging from seven- to 10-percentage-point drops,” Gallup reported. “All generational groups have become less approving of Biden since the summer, after the troubled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in late August 2021.”
Older generations were less inclined to change their opinion of Biden. Baby boomers’ opinions of Biden changed little: their approval of Biden stood at 53% during the “honeymoon phase,” dropped to 52% during the summer of 2021, and dropped again to 46% in fall 2021 and early 2022. “Traditionalists,” the generation before baby boomers, did not change their opinion of Biden much at all. Their opinion stood at 48% after Biden took office, dipped to 47% in the summer, then rose back to 48%.
Previous polls have also shown that Biden’s approval is experiencing a collapse among key demographics. The Daily Wire reported in February that Biden’s approval rating fell 10 points among African American voters over the course of the year 2021, from 86% to 76%, and fell by a massive 25 points among young black voters especially, from 88% to 63%, according to a focus group conducted by Democratic surveyor Navigator Research.
New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also warned that the Biden administration was experiencing a collapse of support from young people, who make up much of the base of the party. “We need to acknowledge that this isn’t just about middle of the road, an increasingly narrow band of independent voters. This is really about the collapse of support among young people, among the Democratic base, who are feeling that they worked overtime to get this president elected and aren’t necessarily being seen,” she told the New Yorker in an interview.
Biden has also hit the lowest overall approval rating of his presidency so far, according to recent polling. The Daily Wire reported:
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey of 800 Americans taken between April 7 and 10 found that most people did not think the American economy was doing well…
The survey also found that Biden’s approval had sunk to a new low of 38% overall, with 53% disapproval. Just 35% of voters approved of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 60% disapproved. Biden’s approval on the Ukraine crisis was slightly higher: 40% of respondents approved of his handling of the Russian invasion, while 49% disapproved.
The Quinnipiac poll of more than 1,400 adults, conducted between April 7 and 11, found similar results on Biden and Ukraine: 39% of respondents said they approved of Biden’s handling of the invasion. Overall, Biden’s general approval rating dropped to just 33%, matching his low point in Quinnipiac’s polling from January, with 54% disapproving, one point higher than in January. Biden also matched his lowest mark among registered voters, with just 35% approval, while 55% disapproved, also one point higher than January.