Joe Biden’s approval rating among U.S. voters continues to remain unfavorable as the crucial campaigning year before the 2024 election hoves into view.
According to an aggregate of polls on the subject, the sitting president has a disapproval rating of 53.8 percent compared to 40.1 percent approval. When compared to those of his predecessors, it could prove an early sign of the challenge he faces in seeking a second term.
Biden’s unpopularity has been a burgeoning trend since last year, with recent polling suggesting his campaign is struggling to connect with voters on his economic agenda while facing ongoing questions about his age.
In a recent Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,500 likely voters, conducted between October 24 and 30, 56 percent disapproved of Biden’s record as president so far, compared to 42 percent who approved.
Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
Another poll, by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, found that, as of October 29, 45 percent of 1,500 registered voters disapproved of Biden to 38 percent who approved. When the two polls are adjusted to take into account different modeling, they both give a similar view of around half of voters viewing the president unfavorably.
Newsweek approached the Biden campaign via email for comment on Wednesday.
When compared with the poll rating of presidents who went on to win a second term at the same point in their presidency, Biden’s favorability is historically lower as far back as Ronald Reagan.
By day 1,015 of their respective presidencies, Barack Obama was viewed more favorably by nearly five percentage points, George W. Bush by over 10 percent and Bill Clinton by 7.4 percent. Reagan’s was also over seven percentage points higher.
Biden’s aggregate favorability rating has recently followed a similar trajectory to that of Donald Trump, his predecessor who lost the 2020 election and is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024. Biden is currently polling just 0.2 percent higher than Trump was at the same point in his term.
The only recent president to poll higher than Biden and go on to lose a re-election bid was George H. W. Bush, who—nearly three years into his term—had a favorability rating of 63.6 percent off the back of the first Gulf War, which subsequently plummeted on the backdrop of a worsening economy and a U-turn on tax rises.
Biden himself has had to grapple with a gloomy economic picture since taking office in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. While headline economic figures have improved markedly under his watch, experts have suggested that what impacts voters the most—inflation—would continue to weigh on their view of his leadership.
According to a CBS News/YouGov poll of 1,878 U.S. adults between October 16 and 19, 63 percent disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy compared to just 37 percent who approved.
Already the oldest serving president in U.S. history, Biden has faced concerns about his age and mental acuity, but he has brushed off queries about his physical and mental health, stating in 2022: “I no more think of myself as being as old as I am than a fly.”
While his likely GOP challenger is only three years his junior, recent polling suggests support for Biden among younger Democrat voters has plummeted through his term, with growing dissatisfaction with his presidency among Black voters—two groups Democratic candidates have typically carried.
At the same time, a large number of Democrat voters have indicated they would prefer independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while Biden also faces being flanked to his left by Cornel West, another independent.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.