INFLATION SLAMS BIDEN’S POLL NUMBERS

President Joe Biden’s approval rating has returned to its lowest level of 33 per cent as he struggles to overcome soaring inflation.

The poll put approval for “the way Joe Biden is handling his job” at 26 per cent among key independent voters, an ominous sign for the Democrats who are bracing themselves for heavy losses in the midterm elections this year.

Approval among Democrat voters was 76 per cent and among Republicans 3 per cent, showing the persistence of deep polarisation that Mr Biden had hoped to reverse.

The President also hit this low point in polling by Quinnipiac University in January, although his “disapproval” rating is one percentage point higher now, at 54 per cent.

The Quinnipiac survey is an outlier because Mr Biden’s average approval rating across all polls is 41.5 per cent, slightly above Donald Trump’s at this stage of his presidency. He was on 40.6 per cent, the lowest of any postwar president, according to an aggregator website.

Despite his popular handling of the Ukraine war, Mr Biden’s ratings have never recovered from the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan last August, when his popularity took a nosedive.

No sooner was that crisis over than inflation began to rise, hitting 8.5 per cent in March, the highest since 1981.