President Joe Biden’s approval rating and standing in the eyes of Americans are so bad according to a poll, there is no way to put a positive spin on them.
ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos discussed a poll released on Sunday that appears to have some horrible news for the president.
“This poll is just brutal for President Biden,” Stephanopoulos said.
ABC News’ political director Rick Klein responded, “Absolutely, George.”
“And you talked earlier about that record low approval rating for President Biden, it’s actually six points down just since February,” he added.
The poll found just 36% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, which ABC News noted is a career low for him, and the lowest on record for a first-term president a year and a half out from an election.
Klein also pointed out the poll found just 36% of Democrats believe the party should re-nominate Biden while 58% said they want someone else.
Watch the video below:
"This poll is just brutal for President Biden," says ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 7, 2023
"A record low approval rating for President Biden — actually six points down just since February." pic.twitter.com/lkmecLvtbB
The survey also found 68% of respondents said Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is too old for another four years. Meanwhile, just 32% said he has the “mental sharpness” to be president and 33% said he is in “good enough physical health to be president.”
By contrast, 54% of respondents said former President Donald Trump has the “mental sharpness” to be president, and 64% said his physical health was good enough to be president.
The poll was conducted April 28 – May 3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
This poll appears to be an outlier. FiveThirtyEight’s polling tracker shows Biden’s approval rating sitting at 42.5%.
It is worth remembering that there were similar bleak polls for the president and Democrats before the 2022 midterm elections. Yet, they managed to avoid a “red wave.”
However, Democrats’ surprisingly good election year came when the president was not on the ballot.
Perhaps Americans are over Biden and would actually vote for Trump again. But of the last six presidents before Biden took office, only two failed to win a second term. And with more than a year to go before the election, there is still time for Democrats to stir up fear about Trump and “MAGA Republicans” and rally around the president.
If Biden was hoping the 2022 midterms were a sign his re-election bid would be easy, this poll shows he has a lot of ground to cover in convincing voters to give him another four years.