BIDEN IS NOW IN FREE FALL
38% approval: poll
President Biden’s popularity continues to plummet over his foreignpolicy fiascos, his inability to sell his keynote domestic agenda to his own party — and even his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows just 38 percent of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing, down from 42 percent in the same poll three weeks ago and 50 percent approval in midFebruary.
The poll puts Biden underwater on his handling of every major issue. Approval of the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Quinnipiac put at 65 percent in late May, was down to 48 percent in Wednesday’s poll. Biden’s pandemic disapproval numbers, by contrast, have shot up to 50 percent from 30 percent in late May.
Biden also gets failing marks on the economy (39 percent approval, 55 percent disapproval), foreign policy (34-58), and taxation (37-54).
But the president’s worst issue score comes on his handling of immigration (25 percent approval, 67 percent disapproval) and specifically the ongoing migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border (23-67).
A plurality of respondents (46 percent) say the administration is not being aggressive enough in deporting immigrants, while just 15 percent say the White House is being too aggressive with immigration enforcement.
However, 51 percent disapprove of the Biden administration’s recent move to fly thousands of migrants back to Haiti from Texas without giving them a chance to apply for asylum, while 37 percent approve. Biden also received low marks for the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan, with just 28 percent saying that the US did the right thing by pulling all forces out of the war-torn country and 65 percent saying the US should have either left some troops behind or not removed any forces.
Biden’s everyman shtick appears to be wearing thin with voters as well. The poll finds that just 44 percent believe that Biden is honest (down from 53 in early February), with 50 percent disagreeing. When asked about the president as a leader, 41 percent believe Biden has good leadership skills (down from 54 in early February) while 56 percent do not.
But what may sound the loudest alarms in the White House are Biden’s numbers among self-described independent voters. Just 32 percent of independents approve of the job the president is doing. By contrast, 60 percent of independents disapprove.