That’s a blow to Joe.
A blistering new poll shows Joe Biden is the least popular commander-in-chief at this point in the last 70 years of office, trailing Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter and putting his re-election chances in jeopardy. .
Biden, 81, posted a dismal job approval rating of 38.7% in the first quarter of 2024. The venerable Gallup poll revealed in a survey released Friday.That’s three points lower than George H.W. Bush, who served one term during the same period of his presidency.
The polling organization concluded, “With approximately six months left until Election Day, Mr. Biden is in a weaker position than previous incumbents.”
By contrast, former President Donald Trump, who is vying for a second term in the White House, had an approval rating of 46.8% at this point in his presidency.
According to the poll, even Mr. Nixon and Mr. Carter had higher approval ratings than Mr. Biden, at 53.7% and 47.7%, respectively, with Mr. Eisenhower having the highest approval rating at 72.3%.
Since Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1952, presidential approval ratings compiled by Gallup have been a strong predictor of reelection success.
Historically, all incumbents in the past 70 years have had approval ratings above 50%. won the second term. Only Barack Obama bucked this trend. His victory in 2012 came despite a middling approval rating of 46%, six months before that year’s general election.
No first-term president in Gallup’s history has returned to the White House with approval ratings as low as Biden’s. Biden’s performance this term ranks among the worst since World War II and in the bottom 12% of all presidential quarters. Until 1945.
And while this quarter marked Biden’s lowest point in the Gallup poll, his popularity has declined since his first year in office amid soaring inflation, a worsening border crisis and a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. It has remained stubbornly low in the low 40% range.
His re-election campaign has been plagued by embarrassing gaffes, his aides have struggled to protect their 80-something boss from the press, and his halting, shuffling gait is a sign of his age.
However, current polls show that the 2024 presidential election will be close, with Trump holding a 0.3 percentage point lead over Biden. In RealClearPolitics’ national poll tally..
The national Gallup poll of 1,001 Americans conducted from April 1 to April 22 has a margin of error of 4 points.
