Biden approval rating hits new low of 36 percent in Quinnipiac poll

President Biden’s approval rating keeps on dropping, and the news is no better for congressional Democrats. 

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll published Thursday, just 36 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s performance in the White House, down one percentage point from last month and a new low for the president among survey respondents. 

Fifty-three percent disapproved of the president’s job performance, up one percentage point from last month. 

The poll finds that 87 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance, while 94 percent of Republicans disapprove. But Biden is 27 points underwater among independent voters, who could hold the key to the victory in next year’s midterm elections. 

Among that group, 56 percent disapprove of the president’s work and just 29 percent approve. 

Biden also hit approval lows in his handling of four major topics: the economy (34 percent approval), the COVID-19 pandemic (45 percent approval), foreign policy (33 percent approval) and climate change (41 percent approval).

The president fared no better on personality questions either, as 51 percent of respondents said they did not find Biden to be honest (42 percent said they did), 57 percent said they did not think he has good leadership skills (37 percent said they did) and 56 percent said they did not believe the administration was competent at running the federal government (40 percent said they did). 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) needled Biden over his poll numbers on the economy. 

“According to a Quinnipiac poll, 34% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s handling of the economy. My question is who are these 34% and what could they possibly like?,” Graham posted on his Twitter account.

Sen. Tom Cotton said the president’s plunging poll numbers shouldn’t shock anyone.

“Joe Biden campaigned as a competent moderate. He’s governing as an incompetent socialist. It’s no surprise his poll numbers have collapsed,” the Arkansas Republican posted.

Meanwhile, the poll found that 46 percent of Americans would prefer that Republicans regain the House of Representatives next year, compared to just 38 percent who want the Democrats to keep their majority. When asked the same question about the Senate, 46 percent said they favored Republican control of the upper chamber while 40 percent said they would want to see Democrats have the majority.

Among independents, 44 percent said they wanted the GOP to have control of the Senate, while 41 percent said they wanted Republicans to take back the House. By comparison, 34 percent of independents said they wanted Democrats to retain the Senate and 31 percent said they wanted Democrats to hold the House. 

“An ominous double whammy for the Democrats with midterms less than a year out,” said Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy. “The Senate and the House will be up for grabs and voters want the GOP to win the jump ball.”

The poll also found that more than half of Americans (52 percent) believe the Democratic Party has gone too far left, while 35 percent said the Republican Party had moved too far to the right. Forty-three percent of respondents said the GOP had remained ideologically stable, while just 34 percent said the same of Democrats.

When asked about congressional candidates who embrace former President Donald Trump and his ideas, 42 percent of Americans say they’d be “less likely” to vote for them, 29 percent say they would be “more likely,” and 27 percent say it wouldn’t matter to them.

Those numbers shift dramatically along partisan lines, with 61 percent of Republicans saying they would be “more likely,” to support a Trump-aligned candidate and only 8 percent saying they would be “less likely.”

Among Democrats, 86 percent say they would be “less likely,” to back a Trump-friendly candidate, while 25 percent of independents say they would be “more likely” supporters, 36 percent would be “less likely” supporters, and 37 percent say it doesn’t matter.

A clear majority (57 percent) support the recently enacted $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending plan, but that number is down slightly from the 62 percent who backed it last month. 

The $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social spending plan, which is stalled in Congress due to Democratic infighting, has the support of 58 percent of Americans, about the same amount as in October. 

Malloy said although those two pieces of legislation have appeal to Americans, Biden’s overall poll numbers are dragging him down. “From the character issues to the broad swath of national and international concerns, that ship continues to take on water,” he said.

The survey also revealed most Americans to be gloomy about the state of the economy, with just 25 percent of respondents saying it was in “excellent” or “good” condition and 74 percent saying it was in “not so good” or “poor” condition.

About six in 10 (61 percent) believe the economy is getting worse, and only 21 percent say it’s getting better.

The negative outlook on the economy is spreading. Last month, 55 percent of Americans said the economy was getting worse, while 36 percent gave the same answer in May.

The high costs of food and gasoline due to inflation and a supply chain backlog have caused 68 percent of Americans to change their spending habits, compared to 30 percent who said they haven’t changed at all.

More than half of Americans (53 percent) say they can’t find what they want at the grocery store, while 50 percent say they are having trouble finding goods they want to buy online or at a brick-and-mortar store, and 52 percent say they’ve encountered delivery delays. 

Newsmax host Steve Cortes, a senior adviser on Trump’s 2020 campaign, tweeted Thursday that Americans’ views on higher prices means a “Biden Blue Christmas.”

The administration also received poor grades for its mandate that businesses with 100 or more employees require workers to be vaccinated or receive weekly COVID-19 tests.

A majority of Americans (52 percent) disapprove of the mandate, while 46 percent approve. When asked about the controversy over getting the shot, 49 percent said they believe getting a COVID-19 vaccine pertains primarily to public health, while 44 percent believe it comes down to personal freedom.

Still, 45 percent think the coronavirus situation is getting better, 36 percent say it hasn’t changed, and 15 percent believe it’s getting worse. 

Respondents were also asked to name the most pressing problem facing America. In a crowded field, the most popular answer was political division or polarization (11 percent), the economy (10 percent), inflation or the high cost of living (8 percent), and immigration or border security (8 percent).

The poll surveyed 1,378 adults between Nov. 11 and 15. It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percentage points.