Recent approval polling averages show President Joe Biden (D) at 39% approval, the same rating he received at the end of June. Fifty-six percent of voters disapprove of his performance.
Biden first received this rating on June 29. In July, approval for his presidency hit a new low of 38%, which he last received on July 27. The highest approval rating Biden has received is 55%, last seen on May 26, 2021.
Congress was at 16% approval and 71% disapproval at the end of July. At this time in June, its approval rating was 18%. The highest approval rating Congress has received is 36%, last seen on July 16, 2021, and the lowest approval rating it has received is 14%, last seen on January 26, 2022.
At the end of July 2018, President Donald Trump’s (R) approval was four percentage points higher than Biden’s at 43%, and congressional approval was two points lower at 16%.
Ballotpedia’s polling index takes the average of polls conducted over the last thirty days to calculate presidential and congressional approval ratings. We average the results and show all polling results side-by-side because we believe that paints a clearer picture of public opinion than any individual poll can provide. The data is updated daily as new polling results are published.
Published Wed, Jul 20 2022 3:09 PM EDTUpdated Wed, Jul 20 2022 3:28 PM EDT
- More Americans now think President Joe Biden is doing a bad job than at any prior point in his presidency, according to a major public opinion poll.
- Just 31% of American adults said they approve of the way Biden is handling his job, while 60% disapproved of it, the Quinnipiac University poll found.
- More than 70% didn't want Biden to seek a second term in the White House, compared to 60% of people who said they did not want to see former President Donald Trump run in 2024.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrives aboard Air Force One at T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, U.S. July 20, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
More Americans now think President Joe Biden is doing a bad job than at any prior point in his presidency, according to a major public opinion poll released Wednesday.
Just 31% of American adults said they approve of the way Biden is handling his job, while 60% disapproved of it, the Quinnipiac University poll found.
Biden's approval ratings among registered voters also hit a record low in the Quinnipiac poll, as just 33% percent of voters said they liked the job he was doing, and 59% disapproved.
The findings came a day after a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that the Democrat's public approval rating had fallen to 36%, matching his record low in that survey.
In Quinnipiac's survey, Biden got the lowest job ratings for his handling of the economy, as just 28% of respondents approved of his work in that area. That result tracks with another finding of the poll: 34% of Americans said that inflation was the most urgent issue facing the United States today.
Inflation in June rose 9.1% above a year ago, the quickest pace in more than 40 years.
Biden's approval ratings were also underwater when respondents were asked about his handling of gun violence, foreign policy and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The only marginally bright spot came on Biden's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, where 50% of respondents approved of the work he was doing, while 43% disapproved.
The Quinnipiac poll had even worse news for Biden when it came to his intention to seek a second term in 2024.
A whopping 71% percent of respondents said they would not like to see Biden run for president that year, and just 24% percent said they wanted a second Biden term in the White House.
Many of Biden's fellow Democrats seem ready to see him leave, according to the poll, which questioned 1,523 adults on the telephone from Thursday through Sunday, and which had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
A majority of Democrats, 54%, said they would not like him to seek reelection in two years, the survey found. Forty percent of Democrats said they would like to see Biden run.
That contrasts with support for Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, from Trump's fellow Republicans.
A total of 69% percent of Republicans said they would like Trump to run to return to the White House in 2024, while 27% would not.
Among all Americans, 60% said they did not want to see Trump as the GOP nominee.
"There's scant enthusiasm for a replay of either a Trump or Biden presidency," said Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst.
"But while Trump still holds sway on his base, President Biden is underwater when it comes to support from his own party."
Registered voters were nearly evenly split when asked about the upcoming midterm elections, which will determine which political party holds majorities in both chambers of Congress.
A total of 45% of respondents said they wanted the Democratic Party to retain control of the House of Representatives, while 44% said they preferred Republicans to take control of that chamber.
When asked which party should control the Senate, it was a dead tie: 45% said Democrats, while the same percentage said they wanted Republicans in charge.
Democrats currently hold a majority in the Senate by virtue of two independent senators who caucus with 48 Democratic senators, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who can break tie votes in the 100-member chamber.
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Updated Aug 17, 2022, 04:31pm EDT
President Joe Biden’s dismal approval rating is beginning to show signs of a turnaround after a recent stretch of accomplishments that few saw coming earlier in the summer.
FiveThirtyEight’s composite approval rating for Biden, which is a weighted average of a number of polls, rose to 40.6% on Wednesday, an increase of more than 3 percentage points from 37.5% on July 21—the lowest of his presidency so far.
It’s the biggest rally in Biden’s approval rating since he became president.
Biden’s low came just days before Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) abruptly announced he had reached a deal with fellow Democrats on the Inflation Reduction Act, signing off on more than $360 billion in spending to combat climate change after he held up earlier versions of the bill for a year while negotiating the price of the legislation down.
Biden’s approval rating is still lower than former President Donald Trump’s at the same point in his presidency: 42%, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Key Background
Biden boasted an approval rating of more than 50% for nearly his first seven months in office, but dipped below that threshold on August 16, 2021, the day after Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban, as the U.S. withdrew troops from the country. The troop drawdown and ensuing chaos in Afghanistan, culminating in a bombing that killed 13 Marines near the Kabul airport on August 26, marked what many consider a turning point in Biden’s presidency as his administration started facing heavy criticism from across the political spectrum. Biden's approval rating plummeted from more than 52% in late July 2021 to under 45% by the end of September, according to FiveThirtyEight, and continued a steady decline for months as voters expressed frustration with the highest inflation in more than 40 years.
Democrats had been expected to suffer major losses in the November midterms, largely due to Republican candidates slamming Biden's record, but the tide may be turning. Democrats are now favored to keep control of the Senate, according to FiveThirtyEight modeling, with some betting markets suggesting Democrats may actually expand their majority in the chamber. Republicans are still widely expected to take control of the House.
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CHIPS Act Passes: House Approves $280 Billion Bill To Boost Microchip Production And Counter China (Forbes)
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