Biden's Approval Rating Falls Below 40% and He Suffers a Loss to Trump in New NY Times Poll

By Abby Liebing October 17, 2022 at 10:09am

With the midterm elections only three weeks away, and the 2024 presidential race already on the horizon, public disapproval of President Joe Biden is seemingly hurting the Democratic Party and the president has scored in some polls as even more unfavorable than former President Donald Trump.

A New York Times/Siena College poll found that many voters disapprove of Biden’s presidency and plan to vote Republican in November, the Times reported Monday.

The polling showed Biden with a 39 percent net approval and a 58 percent net disapproval, according to the Times.

Only 18 percent of likely voters strongly approved of Biden while almost half — 45 percent — disapprove.

And that’s apparently benefiting Republican candidates.

“The poll showed that 45 percent of likely voters strongly disapproved of the job that Mr. Biden was doing, and 90 percent of those voters planned to back a Republican for Congress this fall,” the Times reported.

With such high disapproval ratings for a Democratic president, there are growing concerns for the Democratic Party.

“The first midterm election of a presidency has been historically challenging for the party in power, and Democrats are approaching this one saddled with a president who has a disapproval rating of 58 percent, including 63 percent of independent voters,” the Times noted.

Meanwhile, the Times/Siena College poll also asked respondents about Trump’s favorability.

Would Trump defeat Biden in an election rematch?

According to the poll, Trump had 43 percent favorability and 52 percent unfavorability.

Among those favorable, 23 percent described themselves as “very favorable,” the Times reported. Of those with an unfavorable opinion, 44 percent said it was “very unfavorable.”

But in a hypothetical presidential race between Biden and Trump in 2024, Trump was also favored by one percentage point, 45 percent to 44 percent, according to the poll.

Overall, the New York Times/Siena College poll found that the mood of American voters is very negative and disapproving not just of Biden, but of the whole direction that the country is going.

Only 24 percent of respondents said that the U.S. was on the “right track,” the poll data showed.

Sixty-four percent of those who responded said that the country was on heading in the wrong direction.

With major issues economic issues and an inflation crisis driving up the cost of living, driving, eating, and more, voters are not happy.

The Times/Siena College poll asked respondents what the most important issues facing the nation were currently and 26 percent said “the economy” and another 18 percent said “inflation or the cost of living.”

All other major issues, like immigration, abortion, guns, foreign policy, education, racial issues, political parties and more, scored in the single digits, according to the polling data.

“Today, the mood of the nation is decidedly sour,” the Times noted.

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