It seems like no matter what Joe Biden does, he can’t get his presidency back on track. Conventional wisdom suggested that after his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan was no longer a big story, his approval ratings would recover. Instead, they kept getting worse as the border crisis remained unresolved, COVID-19 got worse, and high gas prices and inflation took their toll on our wallets. Now, as the pandemic seems to be nearing its end, even that isn’t boosting Biden.
Why not?
There are plenty of reasons why. For starters, the border is worse than ever. Oh, yeah, and there’s that whole thing with inflation being at historic highs, and the public isn’t blaming Putin for it. (Sorry, Joe.)
Biden has made multiple attempts to revive his presidency, but nothing seems to work. Not even the confirmation of his Supreme Court pick was able to get him above water. Despite everything he’s tried, the nation is still chanting “Let’s go, Brandon,” and the polls overwhelmingly show it.
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Recent polls have Biden at the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. Most notable, a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday shows only a third of Americans approve of his job performance and 54% disapprove — a spread of -20.
Other surveys similarly show an approval spread in the negative double digits:
- The latest Rasmussen Reports poll has Biden at 57% disapproval and 41% approval, a spread of -16 points.
- Reuters has Biden at 53% disapproval and 41% approval, a spread of -12 points.
- Politico also has bad news for Biden, with 55% disapproving of his job performance and 41% approving, giving him a spread of -14 points.
Clearly, things are not looking good for Biden, who began his presidency with a spread of +19.5 points in the Real Clear Politics average approval.
Yet, as bad as things are for Ol’ Joe, some outlets are still trying to paint the rosiest possible picture for him. I don’t know whether to laugh at how funny it is or cry because it’s just so sad.
For example, the latest Economist/YouGov Poll tracked by Real Clear Politics has Biden at 46% approval and 49% disapproval, a spread of -3 points.
And then there’s the latest Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP poll, which hilariously shows Biden at 49.5% approval and 50.5% disapproval, a spread of just -1 point.
Polling is by no means an exact science, but several polls showing Biden between -14 and -20 approval indicate a much different situation for the president than polls showing him at -1 to -3 points. Is this disparity the natural byproduct of different polling strategies? Or is it a deliberate effort by certain polling outfits to make Biden appear stronger and more popular than he really is?
I’m sure every polling outfit stands by its methodology, but it’s hard to see so many polls showing Biden doing horribly and then a few saying he’s nearly 50/50 without thinking something’s up. But perhaps the bigger question is, what would the point of such deception be? If every poll suddenly decided to make it look as though Biden was no longer underwater, it wouldn’t change the fact that people are struggling because of the inflation resulting from his policies. It wouldn’t fix the border crisis that has gone unabated.
One thing is for sure: the polls showing Biden at negative double digits and the polls showing him at almost 50/50 can’t both be right.