Approval of President Biden’s job performance slipped to just 33% in a poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University — as even key Democratic voting blocs such as young people and racial minorities give the president a big thumbs-down.
The survey, conducted June 3-6, found that 22% of Americans ages 18-34 approve of Biden’s performance — the lowest rating of any age group. Just 24% of Hispanic voters and 49% of black voters said they approve of Biden’s work.
Although elected with the most votes in US history, Biden’s support cratered about seven months into office during the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan and remained low as inflation and violent crime spiked.
In the new poll, 64% of respondents said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy and 34% said inflation is the most pressing national issue. Annual inflation was above 8% in March and April, which critics blame on Biden’s policies.
Nearly as many respondents — 59% — said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of “gun violence,” a term that covers both rising violent crime in major cities and recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. The poll found 57% support stricter gun laws, with 92% support for requiring background checks on all gun buyers.
The president’s highest marks were for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 47% approving and 46% disapproving. Of his handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 42% approved and 50% disapproved — amid mostly conservative criticism of the extent of US aid to Kyiv.
Biden’s support was highest among fellow senior citizens — with 43% approval among people 65 and older — as well as from Democrats, at 79%, and from people with a four-year college degree, at 51%.
The bleak results are only slightly worse than the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls, which has Biden at 39.5% approval and 54.8% disapproval — spelling potential trouble for Democrats in the November midterm elections.
At the same point in 2018, former President Donald Trump’s RCP average approving rating was 42.2%. Former President Barack Obama’s average approval rating stood at 48% in early June of 2010, while George W. Bush had an average approval rating of over 70% in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. Bush’s popularity later collapsed amid controversy over the Iraq War and the onset of the Great Recession. The 43rd president recorded an average approval rating of 36.6% over his second term, while both Trump (42.8%) and Obama (45.9%) managed to finish their last four years in office above 40%.
Biden, according to a Wednesday report in Politico, lashed out at reporters in a recent off-the-record visit to the press cabin on Air Force One, complaining about a lack of positive coverage.
But the president has done little to help flip the script — such as by giving interviews to present his perspective, as his predecessor Donald Trump often did to punch back against critics and advance his own narrative of events.The president’s last on-record sit-down interview with a journalist took place four months ago on Feb. 10 with Lester Holt of NBC. The interview was recorded and aired three days later during the network’s pregame coverage of the Super Bowl.
“I can’t think of a parallel situation,” Peter Baker, a longtime White House correspondent for the New York Times, told Politico. “It’s the fifth president I’ve covered and the first one I haven’t interviewed. They feel neither the obligation nor the opportunity.”
Baker added that “the president talks about defending democracy and that’s part of democracy too – answering questions from people not on your side.”
Biden did appear for an interview Wednesday night on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night ABC show, but the sitdown generated little coverage.
Biden’s messaging is often clouded by walk-backs or altogether squelched by his own staff. For example, his occasional Q&As with reporters after events at the White House are usually cut off from the official video live feeds.
Furthermore, Biden’s press handlers have specifically excluded reporters, video cameras and sound equipment from events on at least three recent occasions — including Wednesday — only allowing still photographers to record the president.