Biden Job Approval
It is almost summer, and the temperatures are heating up, but President Biden's job approval continued to be chilly and underwater, as only 43% of surveyed voters approved of his handling of his job as president, while 49% disapproved. Across America, Biden did not fare much better as his job approval ranged from 39% approved/50% disapproved in the East region, 40% approved/52% disapproved in Central/Great Lakes region, and 41% approved/54% disapproved in the South region. The West was the only region where the president had a decent job approval rating, as 53% of voters approved, while 40% disapproved.
Age played a factor in how voters approved or disapproved of the president's handling of his job. A third of voters aged 18-29 (35% approved/49% disapproved) and 18-24 (36% approved/44% disapproved) approved of the president's handling of his job while less than half disapproved. Majorities of older voters aged 50-64 (40% approved/55% disapproved) and 65+ (40% approved/57% disapproved) were more likely to disapprove of President Biden.
Millennial aged voters were the only group favorable of Joe Biden, as the president did perform better with voters aged 30-49 (51% approved/40% disapproved) and 25-34 (48% approved/41% disapproved).
Men (44% approved/51% disapproved) were slightly more likely to approve of President Biden's job as president than women (42% approved/48% disapproved), but much was left to be desired regarding Biden's standing with all genders. A slight majority of voters with college degrees (51% approved/46% disapproved) approved of President Biden, but 52% of non-college degree voters (37% approved/52% disapproved) disapproved of the president. Biden's numbers also dipped with his base; his numbers were adown with African Americans, as only 62% approved and a quarter disapproved. Biden's numbers have dipped from our previous poll in February when three-quarters of African Americans approved and 23% disapproved.
Biden was not polling any better with other minorities, such as, Hispanics, as 44% approved and 45% disapproved. This number was also down from February when his numbers were better with Hispanics (52% approved/38% disapproved).
While not a big shocker, an overwhelming majority (86%) of Republicans disapproved/11% approved and Biden continued to struggle with Independents-35% approved/52% disapproved. If Biden wants to win reelection, he will need to appeal to more Independents. Only 80% of Democrats approved of the president's handling of his job and 11% disapproved.
When it came to where voters lived, the president still received a small majority of voters who approved of him in large cities (57% approved/33% disapproved). Biden's job approval was upside down among voters who lived in medium sized cities (44% approved/46% disapproved), small cities (35% approved/60% disapproved), the suburbs (41% approved/51% disapproved), and rural areas (32% approved/62% disapproved).
Generationally, Joe Biden had a decent job approval rating with Millennials (50% approved/40% disapproved), but received sparse support from all other generations, especially the youngest surveyed voters, Generation Z (36% approved/44% disapproved). His job approval with Generation X (39% approved/53% disapproved) and Baby Boomers (41% approved/56% disapproved) did not produce any better results.
Biden also continued his downward spiral among women voters (42% approved/48% disapproved), especially among urban women (45% approved/45% disapproved) and suburban women (44% approved/45% disapproved).
Not surprising, Joe Biden also struggled with voters who were experiencing economic hardships. Voters who indicated they were afraid of losing a job within the next year (39% approved/53% disapproved) and who were worse off financially compared to four years ago (25% approved/68% disapproved) were not approving of the way the commander in chief was handling his job as president. This has a lot to do with sky rocketing inflation, which is at a forty-year high.
On the contrary, President Biden did continue to receive staunch support from union voters (60% approve/31% disapprove).
The Takeaways
Biden's job approval is lower than Trump's was at the same point in his presidency. At this point in Trump's presidency his job approval was 46% approved/51% disapproved-5/13/18 Zogby Poll.
Biden has no coherent strategy to combat a struggling economy and out of control inflation. He continues to blame others, such as, Putin and corporations for rising gas prices and food shortages.
While he and the Democrats continue to push for gun reform in response to tragic shootings around the country, and rage against a leaked document from the Supreme court outlining the defeat of Roe v. Wade, people are falling on harder times than we have seen in decades.
President Biden faces a referendum come November. While he has energized his base about classic left-wing issues, such as, gun control and abortion, that will not be enough to save his party's control of both houses of Congress. For one, the party out of control shows up in bigger numbers in midterms and usually wins back control of at least one house, and two, people vote with their bank accounts, which are being debased at a pace so fast they cannot keep up with the increase in prices at the gas pump and grocery store.
President Biden is not aware of what is going on until it becomes a problem. He said as much with inflation and the baby formula shortage. Is he also not aware of the potential for WWIII? He is stoking the situation by supplying long range missiles to Ukraine, which Russia has responded in kind by threatening to nuke the U.S. Is he also not aware about the looming financial meltdown we are heading toward?
As with most problems under his watch, President Biden will not be aware until it is too late. We have seen this "malaise" before under Jimmy Carter, but the one thing going for Biden and Democrats is Republicans have no answerers to the current problems and lack a charismatic leader like Reagan. The Democrats might sleepwalk into keeping control of Congress only because the opposition has nothing to offer American voters, apart from saying "we are not Democrats." That is not a winning slogan.
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Zogby Analytics Poll Methodology
US Likely Voters
5/23/22 - 5/24/22
Zogby Analytics conducted an online survey of 1,100 likely voters in the US.
Using internal and trusted interactive partner resources, thousands of adults were randomly invited to participate in this interactive survey. Each invitation is password coded and secure so that one respondent can only access the survey one time.
Using information based on census data, voter registration figures, CIA fact books and exit polls, we use complex weighting techniques to best represent the demographics of the population being surveyed. Weighted variables may include age, race, gender, region, party, education, and religion. The party breakdown for this survey is as follows: 38% Democrat, 38% Republican and 24% Independent/unaffiliated.
Based on a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error for 1,100 is +/- 3.0 percentage points. This means that all other things being equal, the identical survey repeated will have results within the margin of error 95 times out of 100.
Subsets of the data have a larger margin of error than the whole data set. As a rule we do not rely on the validity of very small subsets of the data especially sets smaller than 50-75 respondents. At that subset we can make estimations based on the data, but in these cases the data is more qualitative than quantitative.
Additional factors can create error, such as question wording and question order.
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About Zogby Analytics:
Zogby Analytics is respected nationally and internationally for its opinion research capabilities. Since 1984, Zogby has empowered clients with powerful information and knowledge critical for making informed strategic decisions.
The firm conducts multi-phased opinion research engagements for banking and financial services institutions, insurance companies, hospitals and medical centers, retailers and developers, religious institutions, cultural organizations, colleges and universities, IT companies and Federal agencies. Zogby's dedication and commitment to excellence and accuracy are reflected in its state-of-the-art opinion research capabilities and objective analysis and consultation.