Democrat President Joe Biden’s approval rating keeps sinking, now down to 37.8 percent in the latest USA Today/Suffolk University poll. The sharp turn against the sitting president comes as Republicans take a commanding lead in the generic congressional ballot, and the public sours on Biden’s agenda.
A strong majority of 59 percent disapproves of Biden, with just 37.8 percent approving of his job performance and 3.2 percent undecided. Biden’s support crash, according to USA Today’s article accompanying the release of the polling, comes in large part because he “cratered among the independent voters who delivered his margin of victory over President Donald Trump one year ago.” Independents by a 7 to 1 margin believe Biden has done a worse job than they expected as president.
“Nearly half of those surveyed, 46%, say Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected, including 16% of those who voted for him,” USA Today’s Susan Page and Rick Rouan wrote. “Independents, by 7-1 (44%-6%), say he’s done worse, not better, than they expected.”
Republicans now have a dominant 8-point lead in the looming midterm elections as well, as 46 percent of survey respondents say they will vote for a Republican and just 38 percent say they will back a Democrat.
“If the election were today, those surveyed say, they would vote for their Republican congressional candidate over the Democratic one by 46%-38%, an advantage that would bode well for GOP hopes of gaining a majority in the House and the Senate,” Page and Rouan wrote. “In a president’s first midterm election, his party usually loses ground, and this time the GOP needs to flip just five seats in the House and one in the Senate to claim control.”
What’s more, former President Donald Trump—a Republican—now leads Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.
“If the presidential election were today between Biden and Trump, 44% say, they would vote for Trump, 40% for Biden, 11% for an unnamed third-party candidate. In the election last year, Biden beat Trump 54%-47%,” Page and Rouan wrote.
This comes as a commanding majority of Americans, including a sizable number of Democrats, hope Biden does not run again in 2024.
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans, 64%, say they don’t want Biden to run for a second term in 2024. That includes 28% of Democrats,” Page and Rouan wrote.
Democrats do not have much of an out in Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, either, because she has an even lower approval rating—hitting just 27.8 percent.
“Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating is 28% – even worse than Biden’s,” Page and Rouan wrote. “The poll shows that 51% disapprove of the job she’s doing. One in five, 21%, are undecided.”
The survey of 1,000 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.1 percent, was conducted November 3 to November 5. That means this poll was completed in the aftermath of GOP Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s shocking win over Democrat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday, a day where Republicans far outperformed expectations and history in elections from coast to coast.
The survey was also completed as House Democrats, with establishment Republican help, passed the $1.2 trillion Senate-passed “Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework” (BIF) plan, sending it to Biden’s desk for his signature. The plan had languished for 87 days since Senate passage, and barely made it through the House as Democrats could not even marshal a majority of 218 votes—getting just 215 Democrats to support it—and forcing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to rely on the 13 House Republicans who backed the bill to secure its passage.
While that bill that passed both chambers with bipartisan support does get some broad support from the public, the bigger Democrat agenda bill—called the “Build Back Better” act—fares much worse in the polling.
“Americans are closely divided on the ‘Build Back Better’ act pressed by congressional Democrats,” Page and Rouan wrote. “In the poll, 47% support the $1.85 trillion bill; 44% oppose it. The sweeping measure includes more than $500 billion in climate change and clean energy funding. It would establish pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds; extend the child tax credit for one year; expand Medicaid coverage in some states; add hearing coverage to Medicare; and finance affordable housing programs.”
Perhaps more importantly, though, a solid majority of 61 percent of Americans say Biden’s BBB bill will have either no impact or a negative impact on their families.
“Those surveyed are a bit more likely to say its provisions would hurt their families rather than help them, 30%-26%. Thirty-one percent say it would not have much effect,” Page and Rouan wrote of that bill that Democrats are still trying to pass.
