CNN data analyst Harry Enten said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s approval ratings were continuing to plummet because “inflation is eating his presidency alive.”
Enten joined CNN anchor Anderson Cooper to discuss the state of the economy and how that was impacting Biden’s approval numbers — and Enten noted that Biden’s disapproval rating was higher than that of any other president to date at the same point in his presidency.
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"If you compare that to every single other president at this point in their first term throughout polling history, this goes all the way back since the 1940s, he is the worst on both," CNN's Harry Enten says. "Inflation is eating his presidency alive." pic.twitter.com/bBobX3ZPA5
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“We’ve decided to release the kraken,” Cooper said as he introduced Enten on Wednesday evening’s show.
Cooper noted that according to the most recent data, inflation had jumped again in June — rising 9.1% year over year — and that it was certainly an issue that was top of mind for a lot of voters regardless of their political persuasion.
Enten pointed to the polls from 2021 to 2022, which showed the president’s disapproval rating jumping from 44% in the summer of 2021 to 58% in the most recent Monmouth poll. It also showed that while a year ago, only 5% of Americans polled had seen inflation as the top issue on their mind, that number had also jumped — to 33% — according to the most recent poll.
“A year ago, no one was saying inflation was a concern outside of Larry Summers. Now, it is a clear number one issue, and we see this clear correlation as more people are concerned about inflation, Joe Biden’s disapproval rating climbs ever higher,” Enten replied.
“How does President Biden stack up against other presidents at this time in the administration?” Cooper asked.
“Yeah, so we can look at both Joe Biden’s disapproval rating on inflation and Joe Biden’s disapproval rating overall, and what we see is his disapproval rating on inflation is topping 70%. His disapproval rating overall is still in the 50s,” Enten said. “But, if you compare that to every single other president at this point in their first term throughout polling history, this goes all the way back since the 1940s, he is the worst on both.”
Enten added, “And the reason he is worst overall is because inflation is eating his presidency alive at this point.”