President Joe Biden’s approval rating has hit a new low in a poll taken in the wake of his announcement for re-election bid in 2024.[0] A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden has done so far.[1] Additionally, just one-third of Americans believe Biden deserves to be re-elected, lower than where Trump was at around this stage of his first term.[2] Biden’s support within his own party is also historically weak; an average of 38% of Democrats want Biden to be the party’s presidential nominee in 2024, while a 57% majority want to nominate someone else. The poll also found that 63% of American adults don’t think Biden, 80, has the “mental sharpness” it takes to serve effectively as president, compared to only 32% who believe he does.[3]
One big question mark for Biden’s re-election campaign is himself. He is currently 80 years old, and would be 86 at the end of a second term.[4] His age and acuity have become the subject of attacks from some of his GOP rivals, including former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.[4] Republican voters seem to view one candidate as more electable than the other, with 44% of U.S. adults polled saying they’d definitely or probably vote for Trump vs. 38% for Biden.[5]
Another issue for Biden is his handling of the economy.[1] The public sees Trump as a better economic steward than the incumbent, with 54% supporting Trump’s performance compared to only 36% who think Biden is doing a better job. Biden inherited from Trump an economy badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.[6] However, the majority of Americans still think Trump did a better job at handling the economy than Biden.
Biden’s re-election campaign is already trying “to shift voters’ focus away from their reservations about him and instead make the 2024 general election a choice rather than a referendum,” according to The Washington Post. However, Biden will have to run a very different campaign than he did in 2020. He is not the same candidate he was in 2020, and his campaign will need to be more energetic to prompt voters to turn out.[7]
Overall, Biden’s approval rating is not in a good place, and his support within his own party is historically weak. The public sees Trump as a better economic steward than Biden, and Biden’s age and acuity have become the subject of attacks from his GOP rivals. Biden’s re-election campaign will need to address these issues and run a more energetic campaign to win over voters.
0. “Less than 35% think Biden has ‘mental sharpness’ for second term: Poll” Axios, 7 May. 2023, https://www.axios.com/2023/05/07/biden-trump-age-election-poll
1. “Biden approval slips to new low in wake of 2024 campaign launch: survey” The Hill, 7 May. 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3992413-biden-approval-slips-to-new-low-in-wake-of-2024-campaign-launch-survey/
2. “The Democrats think centrism will re-elect Biden. That’s a dangerous assumption” The Guardian, 1 May. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/01/democrats-centrism-biden-reelection-2024
3. “Most Americans don’t think Biden’s mentally sharp enough to serve second term: new poll” New York Post , 8 May. 2023, https://nypost.com/2023/05/08/most-americans-dont-think-bidens-mentally-sharp-enough-to-serve-second-term-new-poll
4. “Biden’s mental sharpness and physical health doubted, Post-ABC poll shows” The Washington Post, 7 May. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/07/biden-mental-sharpness-physical-health-poll/
5. “Biden trails Trump as his approval rating hits new low in latest poll” The Straits Times, 7 May. 2023, https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/biden-trails-trump-as-his-approval-rating-hits-new-low-in-abc-poll
6. “Biden trails Trump, sees slipping approval rating, Post-ABC poll finds” The Washington Post, 7 May. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/07/president-biden-post-abc-poll/
7. “Which Republican Candidate Should Biden Be Most Afraid Of?” FiveThirtyEight, 2 May. 2023, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-republican-candidate-should-biden-be-most-afraid-of/
