Joe Biden’s approval rating 13 quarters into his first term is the worst of any post-World War II U.S. President — significantly behind Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, or Jimmy Carter at the same point in their presidencies. Gallup gives the 81-year-old Democrat an approval rating of 38.7 percent, making him the only president to be below 40 percent at this point in his term.
The polling firm notes that rated against 314 quarterly average rankings for presidents since 1945, Biden’s current numbers place him 277th, in “the bottom 12 percent of all presidential quarters.”
George H.W. Bush Sr. is the next-worst performer after Biden, suffering a 41.8 percent approval rating during his 13th quarter in 1992. He was not reelected. Among all the presidents with approval ratings under 50 percent at this stage in their terms, Barack Obama was the only one reelected. His approval rating was 45.9 percent, over seven points clear of Biden today.
There is no sign in Gallup’s polling that Biden’s standing with the public is improving — his current quarterly average is “technically the lowest of his presidency to date,” they note — and his approval has not been above 50 percent since his second quarter.
“With about six months remaining before Election Day, Biden stands in a weaker position than any prior incumbent, and thus faces a taller task than they did in getting reelected,” the pollster observes.
This is borne out in other polls, which show Trump leading Biden in six of seven swing states at present. Numerous polls over recent months have the 45th President leading his successor in most key battlegrounds, sometimes in all seven of them.
Biden is also faltering among demographics that supported him mostly strongly in 2020, such as young and black voters.
