Even though President Joe Biden appears to be the front-runner among Democrats heading into the 2016 primaries, a recent poll reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans do not support him.
CNN commissioned a recently released SSRS study in which 66 percent of respondents said that reflecting him would be the equivalent of a “disaster or a setback” for the nation as a whole.
“At the same time, the survey finds a decline in favorable views of Biden over the past six months, from 42% in December to 35% now,’ CNN reported.
“And results from the same poll released earlier this week showed Biden’s approval rating for handling the presidency at 40%, among the lowest for any first-term president since Dwight Eisenhower at this point in their term,” the network added.
The report added:
Within his own party, 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say they back Biden for the top of next year’s Democratic ticket, 20% favor activist and lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and 8% back author Marianne Williamson. Another 8% say they would support an unnamed “someone else.”
Biden’s primary supporters are largely locked in: 58% say they would definitely support him and 42% say that they could change their minds. In contrast, those backing other candidates are far from committed, with just 19% in that group saying they definitely will support their first-choice candidate and 81% saying that they could change their minds.
Former President Donald Trump performs substantially better than Vice President Joe Biden, with only 56% of those surveyed by CNN believing that his election would be “a disaster or a setback.” According to 43% of respondents, a Trump victory would be a “triumph or a step forward.”
“Views of Biden are sharply more negative than are views of each of the three living Democratic past presidents. Barack Obama is the most positively viewed of all the living presidents tested in the poll, 57% hold a favorable view, 35% an unfavorable one,” CNN reported, citing the survey.
“President Joe Biden’s job performance rating has mostly held steady for more than a year and currently stands at 44% approve vs. 56% disapprove in the latest Fox News national survey. That’s net negative by 12 points. The last time that he received positive marks was September 2021, and that was by 1 point (50%-49%),” Fox News reported.
“Approval of the president hovers at a low point among several key voting groups, including women (43% now vs. 42% low), voters ages 45+ (41% vs. 39% low), suburban voters (41% vs. 39% low), rural voters (31% vs. 30% low) and Democrats (81% vs. 78% low) – Democratic men in particular (79% vs. 78% low). He’s at a low mark of 41% approval among suburban women,” the report added.
53% of respondents disapprove of Biden’s handling of national security, 54% of respondents disapprove of his handling of foreign policy, 60% of respondents disapprove of his handling of border security, and 64% of respondents disapprove of his handling of the economy.
“Biden’s numbers cratered in the fall of 2021 after the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle and the onset of hyperinflation,” said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “Since then, his approval has barely moved, despite a midterm election, economic ups and downs, and several legislative policy rollouts.”
In the most recent poll conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, President Biden’s approval rating dropped to 38% from 45% in February and 41% in January.