A new Gallup poll has President Joe Biden’s job approval rating at 43%, an all-time low for him.
The poll shows that Biden’s rating is down six points since August, and 13 points since June. 53 percent of people polled say they disapprove of Biden’s performance.
This poll doesn’t appear to be an outlier. FiveThirtyEight looks at a range of polls and averages them. By their calculations, Biden has an overall approval rating of 45.4 percent and an overall disapproval rating of 49.2 percent.
Republicans say this is indicative of the decisions Biden has made as president.
“You’re seeing in living color the incompetency of the Biden Administration,” Senate Minority Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) told Fox News. “You’re seeing it at the border, you’re seeing it at Afghanistan. You’re seeing crime in the city. So, this president, as you just reported with the poll numbers, is in freefall.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says they are focusing on the long term picture, rather than just this exact moment.
“I think the country is going through a lot right now,” Psaki said. “And people are still under the threat of COVID; that is concerning to a lot of people. We see that in polls as well. Even as they approve of the President’s handling of COVID, that’s still something impacting people people’s lives. There’s a great deal of anxiety about that.”
“Our objective is to keep pushing his agenda forward and keep making their lives better, and, you know, look at that over the long term,” she added.
President Biden has held office for 248 days. 248 days into former President Trump’s presidency, his approval rating sat at 39.7 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight. President Obama’s was 52.7 percent.
President George W. Bush’s approval rating, calculated in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was much higher at 85.9 percent. President Clinton’s sat at 48.9 percent 248 days into his presidency.
When it comes to their final approval numbers, Trump ended lower than at this time in his presidency. The same goes for George W. Bush.
Biden might hope he follows in the footsteps of other recent presidents. Obama, Clinton and Reagan all ended their presidencies with higher approval ratings than their 248-day measure.
History shows that Biden, with these poll numbers, doesn’t have the political leverage needed to convince the two sides of his party to set aside their differences and pass his first term priorities.
It’s something even Hollywood knows, with character president Andrew Shepard addressing it in Aaron Sorkin’s film The American President.
“If they want to pull their support, fine. At 63 percent job approval rating. I don’t need their help getting a bill passed,” Shepard, portrayed by Michael Douglas, said.
Low approval ratings can also impact the midterm elections. During President Obama’s first term, he had low approval ratings going into the midterm elections and Republicans flipped the House of Representatives.
