Biden Says He’s Not Bothered As Approval Rating Sinks To New Low - Forbes

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Topline

President Biden said that he was not concerned about his low approval rating while speaking at the G20 Summit in Rome on Sunday, hours after an NBC poll reported that only 42% of registered voters approve of his performance in office, one of the lowest ratings since his presidency began.

Key Facts

The poll found that 42% of respondents approved of Biden’s job performance as president and 54% disapproved.

President Biden’s approval rating has slowly decreased throughout his presidency: In April, he had an approval rating of 53% and in August it was at 49%, according to the NBC poll.

Biden’s numbers have been trending this low for some time: A Gallup poll conducted during the first half of the month also had him at 42%.

FiveThirtyEight, a poll analysis website that averages several mainstream surveys, has Biden’s approval rating at about the same as NBC at 43%.

When questioned by the press at the G20 summit on Sunday, Biden said he did not run for office to seek approval from polls, and instead of improving his numbers his attention was focused on the environmental progress discussed at the conference and the passing of his Build Back Better framework, which he announced Thursday.

Crucial Quote

“The polls are going to go up and down and down. They were high early and then they went medium and then they went back up and now they’re low. Look at every other president, the same thing has happened,” Biden told reporters.

Big Number

37.8%. That was former President Trump’s approval rating at this time during his presidency. President Obama’s was 51.9%. Like Biden, both presidents suffered steady declines from the time they took office to this point.

Key Background

Two key factors into Biden’s approval ratings are his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic and his new environmental and social framework he hopes to pass. The federal vaccine mandate Biden signed in September has been largely effective, though controversial. Federal contractors like airlines and colleges have been met with some outcry from employees who refuse to get the highly-politicized vaccine. On Friday, attorneys general from 10 states sued the Biden administration over the mandates. Thursday the president announced a slimmed-down version of his social and environmental policy framework, a spending package that originally cost $3.5 trillion and included several progressive programs. After months of negotiations the framework is now budgeted at $1.5 trillion. Initiatives like paid medical and family leave, and two years of tuition free community college were cut from the framework.