President Joe Biden has successfully managed to lower the bar for presidential approval as he now nears Jimmy Carter’s historic low net approval rating even before the election.
We’ve all heard the comparisons between Biden and Carter — and for good reason! But comparisons don’t do Biden justice when he deserves recognition for somehow beating Carter at his own game.
A new poll shows Biden’s net approval average as of today as -16.1%, lower than both former President Donald Trump on Election Day and Harry S. Truman on Election Day.
Net Approval Average on Election Day
Johnson: +59%
Eisenhower: +48.8%
Nixon: +32.7%
Reagan: +24.9%
Clinton: +16%
Obama: +2.4%
Ford: +2.3%
G.W. Bush: +0.9%
Truman: -5.9%
Trump: -8.1%
Carter: -16.9%
H.W. Bush: -22.9%Biden’s net approval today: -16.1% pic.twitter.com/KQXt80bWmV
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) December 21, 2023
But if history tells us anything, Biden better start packing. Carter, whose approval ratings continually soured through his final year in office, had a net approval rating of -16.9% on Election Day. (RELATED: ‘No Matter How You Look At It’: CNBC Host Says Polls Spell Bad News For Biden On All Fronts)
Biden still has approximately 11 months to go but unless he can somehow convince the American public otherwise, there are no indicators Biden can turn this number around.
A Monmouth University poll found Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 34%, a 54% decline since the beginning of his presidency. The slip comes as Americans sour on Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration. The poll found 69% of Americans disapprove of how Biden’s handled immigration and 68% disapprove of how he’s handled inflation. Democrats are also divided, with 50% approving his handling of immigration while 47% disapprove.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 30 – Dec. 4 amongst 803 adults within the U.S.. The margin of error is 4.8%.
Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal survey released Dec. 9 found just 23% of voters think Biden’s policies have helped them while 50% said Trump’s policies helped them.
Biden also fares poorly in key swing states, with 51% of voters across Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina saying the country was economically better under Trump while 34% say the same about Biden, a Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll found.
Biden is further struggling among key demographics like women, independents and Hispanic voters.
What’s even more worrisome for Biden is that at this same time in Carter’s term, he had a 54% approval rating, faring far better than Biden. Carter’s approval rating hit 58% in January of 1980 before going on a steady decline through Election Day. Carter’s approval rating rested at 31% just after the election, which is similar to where Biden’s current approval rating is.