USA TODAY International Edition
Poll: Biden’s approval rating falls to 42%
60% rate his handling of economy negatively
WASHINGTON – A majority of Americans now disapprove of President Joe Biden’s job performance and most think the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to an NBC News poll.
In the poll, released Sunday, 42% of adults say they approve of Biden’s job performance, overall. The number – which includes most Democrats – declined 7 points since August.
Those who disapprove of the president’s overall performance – 54% – increased 6 points since August.
Nearly half of those surveyed gave the president low marks for uniting the country, and 60% rate Biden’s stewardship of the economy negatively.
The findings were released one year before next year’s midterm elections and just days before a contentious gubernatorial election in Virginia that some view as referendum on Biden’s presidency.
Among registered voters, those who approve of Biden’s job performance totaled 45% ( down 5 percentage points), while 52% ( up 4 percentage points) say they disapprove.
Biden’s 42% approval rating in the NBC poll is lower than any other modern first- year president’s at a similar point in time except for his predecessor, President Donald Trump. Trump’s approval rating average was 37% in fall 2017, according to Gallup’s historical data.
In the past few months, Biden has had to compromise on key Democratic priorities – such as federal paid family leave and lowering the cost of prescription drugs – to try to get his Build Back Better Act passed, while he also contends with disappointing jobs numbers and the COVID- 19 pandemic. The death toll from the virus passed 700,000 less than 10 months into his presidency.
Biden also navigated a chaotic withdrawal of U. S. troops from Afghanistan at the end of August, officially ending the 20- year war. Thirteen service members were killed in a suicide bombing while helping evacuate U. S. citizens and others from the airport in Kabul.
But recently, COVID- 19 cases have fallen nationwide.
The number of adults who approved of the president’s handling of the economy – 40% – is down 7 points since August. A little more than half, 51%, approve of Biden’s handling of the pandemic, down 2 percentage points from August.
A majority of poll respondents – 71% – say they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, up 8 points since August. That includes 93% of Republicans, 70% of independents and 48% of Democrats.
One thousand adults were polled Oct. 23- 26. Most of them, 650, were reached only by cellphone. The poll had an overall margin of error of 3.1 percentage points and plus- minus 3.4 percentage points for the 820 registered voters polled.