After ending the honeymoon of the first months in the Oval Office and then the promotion of his economic agenda (Bidenomics) and other efforts he showed as great achievements, President Joe Biden was in decline and did not take off in voters´ standpoint.
According to December polling from Gallup, Biden’s approval rating sits at 39%. By comparison, former President Trump’s approval rating sat at 45% when he was seeking reelection in 2019, and former President Obama’s was 43% in 2011.
Former President George W. Bush was supported by 58% of survey respondents at this time in his reelection cycle, Gallup noted, likely aided by the mid-December capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Former Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush each had 51% support while vying for a second term, according to the survey giant. And former President Reagan’s approval rating was 54% in 1983, tied with former President Carter’s in 1979.
“Biden enters 2024 with a persistently low job approval rating, the worst of any modern-day president heading in to a tough reelection campaign,” Gallup wrote Friday.
Biden’s latest approval rating is slightly up from a record-low 37% support in October and November but is the fifth time the president has fallen below 40 percent in 2023. He began his term in Jan. 2021 with a high of 57% support.
Support among Democrats dipped in October, likely due to the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, but has improved slightly to 78% in the recent survey.
Republicans in the new survey, conducted Dec. 1-20, continue to dislike Biden; he has consistently remained in the single digits since Aug. 2021 and earned 5% support in the most recent poll.
Independents’ “ratings have been more variable,” Gallup noted. In the recent survey, 34% of independent respondents approve of Biden, up 7 points from last month’s polling.
Heading into the election year, Gallup found that Americans feel better about the economy, but it remains a pressing concern for many. Biden’s handling of foreign affairs will also likely play a large role in the campaign, as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars continue and Republicans press on about immigration security at the country’s southern border.
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