President Biden's approval rating has been better with African Americans. We offered three options for respondents to test his job approval: approve, disapprove and not sure. A majority (58%) of African Americans voters approved of the president and a third (32%) disapproved. Ten percent were not sure.
On paper this might seem like a good approval rating but compare this to eight months ago when we conducted the same nationwide poll of likely voters, albeit with a smaller sub-sample, and Biden's approval rating with African Americans, in our January poll, was 75% approved/23% disapproved. In May 2022, our poll had the president at 75% approval/22% disapproval among African American likely voters. Historically Biden's numbers have been even higher with African Americans.
His popularity is dwindling a little with the African American community. One reason could be African American sentiment toward the direction of the country and economy. Overall, a majority of African American voters (53%) thought the country was off on the wrong track and only 37% thought it was headed in the right direction, while 11% were unsure. African American attitudes about the economy mirrored their opinion of the country's direction: a majority (54%) thought the U.S. economy was off on the wrong track and 35% thought it was headed in the right direction, while ten percent were not sure.
Things did not get better from there for the president. Among a long list of Democratic contenders, Biden only received 36% support from African American voters, 41% if you combine the 5% FLOTUS Jill Biden received, but it's hard see where this is a good scenario for Biden; his support is lagging among a big part of his base. Does this mean he will not win reelection or he will bow out, it's hard to say but these are not great numbers among one of the strongest groups that make up his base. Other potential primary challengers who received considerable support were Michelle Obama (22%) and Vice President Kamala Harris (13%), followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (7%), and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (6%).
