Biden’s job approval in Pennsylvania drops sharply in new poll
President Joe Biden’s job approval rating among Pennsylvania voters plummeted in the last two months, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
The percentage of voters who think Biden, a Democrat, is doing a good or excellent job dropped to about a third (32%) in the new Franklin & Marshall College poll, down from more than 2 in 5 (41%) in August.
Almost 2 in 5 voters (39%) say their feelings about Biden changed in the past few months with 9 in 10 (90%) of these voters saying he is doing worse than before. They blamed their lessened feelings on the Afghanistan withdrawal (31%), the border crisis and immigration (15%), the economy and inflation (15%) and COVID-19 (14%).
Even Democrats’ support for Biden’s performance declined — from almost 4 in 5 (78%) in August to a bit more than 3 in 5 (62%) in the latest poll. His standing among independents also dropped sharply — from almost 2 in 5 (38%) in August to somewhat more than 1 in 5 (23%).
The percentage of people who think the nation is on the wrong track (69%) remained the same as August, but somewhat fewer people (22% now compared to 25% in August) think it’s headed in the right direction.
Poll director Berwood Yost said the combination of issues contributed to Biden’s declining standing.
“There were a number of issues that haven’t been resolved since the start of his presidency,” he said. “And that’s sort of eating away at his support, and the fact that he can’t get his legislative agenda passed. And all of the news coverage of that, sort of reflects that inability. I mean that’s just hurting him. You can see that he’s losing ground among key elements of his constituency, liberals and Democrats, but importantly, moderates and independents who you would expect to be more affected by those kinds of failures of policy.”
Biden could recover if Congress passes his roads, bridges and infrastructure bill and the long-term spending bill that addresses child-care, early-childhood education, climate change, Medicare expansion and other issues, Yost said.
“His greatest hope has to be that COVID kind of goes away and stays away, and that maybe these inflation concerns start to decline,” he said. “But I mean he’s got a host of problems, and it doesn’t seem like he’s generated any solutions or any clear messages about this.”
Gov. Tom Wolf hasn’t suffered any further decline in his standing, the poll found, though people think the state is worse off than before.
More than 2 in 5 voters (42%) think Wolf is doing a good or excellent job, about the same as August (41%).
By comparison, only 3 in 10 voters (30%) think the state is generally headed in the right direction, down from almost 4 in 10 (37%) in August.