President Biden’s popularity fell to its lowest point yet in a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted on Sunday: just 42% of Americans approve of Biden’s performance, while 58% disapprove.
Biden’s approval rating is low across the board, including among demographic groups that generally support Democrats, including racial minorities and youth.
People under 30 strongly rejected Biden: 57 percent said they disapproved and only 43 percent said they approved of the president’s performance.
A majority of 54 percent of Hispanics and 33 percent of African Americans said they disapprove of Biden, and 22 percent of people who voted for Biden in 2020 also disapprove.
The poll results from early April reflect a sour national mood, as inflation and illegal immigration hit four-decade highs, with even higher increases expected — as COVID-19-related restrictions drag on and violent crime remains high.
Some 69 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Biden’s handling of inflation, which hit an annual rate of 7.9 percent in February. Even among Democrats, 41 percent disapproved of how Biden is tackling inflation.
The CBS survey polled US residents, rather than registered voters or likely voters, making it difficult to determine the precise impact on November’s midterm elections, which Republicans are favored to win.
The overall results reflect a slight but statistically insignificant drop in Biden’s approval rating. CBS found 43 percent approval for Biden in February and March, but previous results are within the last pollmargin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
Biden won more votes than any other presidential candidate in history less than two years ago, as pandemic mail-in voting and a close race fueled a surge in voter turnout. But his approval rating plummeted less than a year into office during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Although the withdrawal from Afghanistan was widely supported in principle, it was marred by a desperate rush of US and Afghan citizens to Kabul airport after the US-backed Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled – allegedly with a large amount of cash. Thirteen US soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack at Kabul airport.
The CBS results are consistent with other recent polls. The Average RealClearPolitics finds Biden’s approval rating at 41.4 percent, only slightly higher than his all-time low average approval rating of 39.8 percent in early February.
Biden’s dismal approval rating could add to Democratic problems in the midterm elections. A president’s party is highly disadvantaged to win the midterm elections. However, Senate elections largely depend on the qualities of a party’s candidate and which states will elect a senator that year. In 2018, Republicans were able to win two Senate seats and retain control of the upper house, despite losing the House. Donald Trump’s average approval rating was 43.5 percent on Election Day 2018.