According to the poll, which was published January 12th, only 33 percent of Americans approve of President Joe Biden's job performance. The results would be even uglier if Democrats were bracketed out. His approval rating is just 25 percent among independent voters and 28 percent among Hispanics.
Even among Democratic voters, where his support is still fairly strong, his rating has declined from 87 percent in November to just 75 percent today.
On specific issues Mr. Biden's support is no less anemic. He has 34 percent approval on the economy and 35 percent approval on his conduct of foreign policy.
He was elected in part on his promise to "shut down" the Covid pandemic, but despite inheriting vaccines and therapeutics that Mr. Trump did not have until the last months of his presidency, more people have died during Mr. Biden's year in office (430,000) than died before he was inaugurated.
Consequently, only 39 percent of the people surveyed approved of his handling of the pandemic.
Mr. Biden was also elected because voters hoped he'd unite the country, but according to the poll, 49 percent of Americans said he's "doing more to divide the country," compared with just 42 percent who said he's "doing more to unite the country."
The number of people who think he's uniting the country is not likely to be helped by his recent rhetoric in Georgia where he compared those who oppose the Democrats' voting rights bill to segregationists and defenders of slavery. Speaking to those senators who must vote on the bill to impose federal regulations on voting laws of all the states, Mr. Biden asked whose side these senators wanted to be on:
Do you want to be ... on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?Not only does such a comparison reflect an ignorance of the reasons for opposing the bill, it's politically clutzy. It's certainly not a helpful way to fulfill his promise of uniting the country.
Much can happen between now and 2024, of course, but Mr. Biden is proving himself to be a very unpopular president which is why some in his party are casting about for someone else to run in the next presidential election. But who is there among Democrats who would make an attractive candidate? Might we anticipate the resurrection of a Hillary candidacy in 2024?
