Biden Approval Reaches Historic Low
President Joe Biden ranked the worst approval ratings of a president at the start of his fourth year in modern American history, marking a major obstacle for the president in his 2024 reelection effort. The poor ratings also come as Biden has fallen behind former President Donald Trump in a number of major national and state polls.
The negative news also coincides with Trump establishing a large lead over the president, according to a recent NBC News poll.
According to the recent survey, Trump currently has 47% of the electorate, while Biden is only supported by 42%. This is the largest such lead of all of the 16 NBC News polls comparing the two candidates.
Furthermore, the news shows a significant decline in support for Biden, who was leading as late as last summer. A July 2023 poll found Biden with 49% support to Trump’s 45%. By September the lead dissipated and the two candidates were tied with 46%.
NBC News: National Polling Trends
July 2023
(D) Biden 49% (+4)
(R) Trump 45%January 2024
(R) Trump 47% (+5)
(D) Biden 42%This is biggest lead NBC has ever had in 16 polls for Donald Trump over Joe Biden.
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Approval rating in NBC poll at start of re-election year:George… https://t.co/ZHgulq5t7g pic.twitter.com/CneEHeB3o5
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 4, 2024
However, Trump has held a lead since last November. The most recent poll also showed Trump with an even larger lead when third-party candidates are included. When a hypothetical candidate from the Green Party, Libertarian Party and the No Labels movement, Biden lost significant support. In that scenario, Trump would bring in 41% of the vote, compared to Biden’s 36%.
Trump had a substantial lead on a number of issues. Trump currently leads Biden on the question of who would better manage the economy by more than 20%. Trump also leads Biden narrowly among Latino voters and scored closer among younger voters compared to 2020.
A recent CNN poll showed that Biden had the lowest approval rating of any modern American president entering into his fourth year. Biden currently has a 38% approval rating. This is substantially lower than Trump’s ratings at the start of 2020.
Furthermore, the three presidents immediately above Biden in the list each lost reelection, including former President George H.W. Bush, whose approval rating was 9% higher than Biden’s is now.
The NBC News poll cited above also found Biden with just a 37% approval rating.
