President Biden is complaining to close aides as his low approval rating continues to frustrate him and first lady Jill Biden, according to a new media report.
“After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it,” The Washington Post reported.
“He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball, even as the economy was growing and unemployment was falling, according to people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation,” according to The Post, whose headline noted Biden’s “dismal poll numbers.”
The Biden family’s complaints date back months, with Joe and Jill Biden telling “aides and friends they are frustrated by the president’s low approval rating and the polls that show him trailing former president Donald Trump,” the report continued.
In recent weeks, both Joe and Jill Biden have “grown upset that they are not making more progress.”
“We do not discuss the President’s private conversations one way or the other,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said in a statement. “The President and first lady meet regularly with their senior team for updates and to review plans.”
Trump leads Biden 47% to 43% in a hypothetical ballot between only those two candidates and leads 37% to 31% in a hypothetical ballot with five independent candidates, according to the results of a Wall Street Journal poll released Saturday.
The president’s sagging numbers against Trump also come as voters gave Biden low approval marks, including only 23% of respondents saying Biden’s policies have helped them personally, compared to 53% who say they have been hurt by the president’s policies.
Biden’s allies are used to worries from Democrats about the 81-year-old president’s declining popularity, The Post reported. “They routinely point to comments made by lawmakers, donors and pundits who declared Biden’s 2020 primary campaign over when he was routed in Iowa and New Hampshire before he went on to win the nomination and the presidency.”
“I feel the same way I did in 2015 and 2016,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told The Post, although she admitted the “country is angry.”
Dingell warned Democrats last week that Biden’s re-election prospects are slipping in the state of Michigan, also telling CNN she is not surprised about polls showing Biden’s unpopularity with Democratic voters in the state.
“In the minds of many Democrats, we campaigned on a set of ideas in 2020, and we went into office and executed on them,” former congressman Conor Lamb told The Post. “We feel like we have a good story to tell, but that doesn’t seem to be registering yet.”
Lamb said that Democrats are in “a state of paralysis” over how to help Biden’s campaign.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.