President Biden is ending the year with his approval rating at a new low, according to a high-profile poll Monday that finds the White House reeling from higher prices, the COVID-19 crisis and opposition to his social welfare bill.
Mr. Biden’s approval rating is at 41% compared to 55% who disapprove of his performance, the NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll found.
Notably, Mr. Biden has only a 29% approval rating from independents in the poll after winning support from 54% of them in the 2020 election.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to address the omicron variant of the virus on Tuesday, as pandemic-weary Americans face a third calendar year of the pandemic.
Inflation helped deliver a jolting setback to Mr. Biden’s agenda this week when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia said he cannot support the president’s signature social welfare and climate bill due to concerns it will worsen inflation. The defection essentially killed the legislation that needed support from all 50 Senate Democrats to pass.
“There’s lots of uncertainty out there — inflation, the latest pandemic addition [of omicron], Congress is still crawling along on his main agenda,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in an NPR piece. “So he’s being hit for a lack of leadership, hit for the fatigue over the pandemic and the concern over inflation.”
Pollsters found 42% of Democrats strongly approve of Mr. Biden’s performance compared to 86% who strongly disapprove, meaning the intensely negative attitude among partisans is more than double strong support from within the president party.
