President Joe Biden’s support among independents is falling fast.
CNN noted that Biden was victorious in 2020 in large part because he was able to win the center. He came away with a 13-point win with independent voters. It is the same group that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 by 4 points.
The news network said Biden should be alarmed that the decline in his approval rating has come disproportionately from independents.
And columnist Henry Olsen, writing in The Washington Post, said, “Biden’s abysmal standing with independents spells disaster for Democrats in the midterm elections if it does not substantially improve.”
CNN pointed out that the president’s net approval rating among independents in polls completed in September and October now stands at -16 points.
In June and July polls, his rating among independents stood at +3.
The news network noted his net approval rating is much higher among Democrats (+79 points) and much lower among Republicans (-84 points).
And in the June and July polls, his approval rating was +88 points among Democrats and -72 points among GOP voters.
The major point here is that while the drop among Democrats (9 points) and Republicans (12 points) is obvious, it’s larger among independent voters (19 points).
A Gallup Poll published Sept. 22, found that approval for Biden was only 37% among independents. Notably, Gallup found independent approval has cratered 24 points (from 61%) since Biden took office and 18 points since June (55%).
And Olsen pointed out: “Progressives who say it’s more important to energize the base for the midterms are wrong. Democrats’ 2018 wave was fueled much more because they won independents by 12 points than by turning out more Democrats.
“The Republican 63-seat House pickup in 2010 was also fueled primarily by independents; the GOP won this demographic by a whopping 19 points that year. Tea party activists claimed the credit for the win, much as progressive women’s and youth groups garnered accolades for 2018, but in each case, it was the quiet independent voters who made the difference.”
