From 60s to 40s: Biden's Ratings Plummet in Battleground States Following Crisis-Riddled Summer
© REUTERS / JONATHAN ERNST
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While the next presidential election is still years away, Democrats are concerned that Biden's ratings might negatively affect the 2022 midterms and strip the party of its narrow majorities in the two chambers of Congress.
Joe Biden's ratings have fallen following three months of troubles this summer, but even more so in six battleground states, a Civiqs survey has shown. According to its data, the Democrat had 10%+ gaps in his approval and disapproval ratings in three states where he won by narrow margins – Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, and three where he narrowly lost to Trump – Florida, North Carolina, and Texas.
The largest gap between those who approved of Biden's performance so far and those who did not was in Texas. Some 59% of respondents disapproved of the POTUS' actions, while only 33% approved. Back in 2020, Trump won the state by a 5% margin. In two other swing states, the GOP candidate prevailed by even smaller margins last year.
US Senator Chuck Schumer (L) and New York Governor Kathy Hochul (3rd R) wave to a child as US President Joe Biden speaks during a tour of a neighbourhood affected by Hurricane Ida in Queens, New York on September 7, 2021. - President Joe Biden headed Tuesday to storm-ravaged New York and New Jersey, just days after inspecting the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana. Biden -- who is pushing a giant infrastructure spending bill, including major funding for the green economy -- argues that extreme weather across the United States this summer is a harbinger of worse climate change to come.
© AFP 2023 / MANDEL NGAN
In Florida and North Carolina, Biden received similar support levels of 40%, versus 53% of respondents who disapproved of his performance, according to the Civiqs survey. That makes equates to a 13% gap, versus the 26% gap in Texas.
Georgia, which yielded 16 electors to Biden last year after a razor-thin election victory, showed the second-worst result for the Democrat's ratings. Only 38% of respondents there approved of POTUS' actions, while 53% disapproved. Pennsylvania and Arizona showed the smallest gap between the approval and disapproval ratings of the president not in his favour, but which still reached 10%.
Biden's approval ratings crossed the 50% line in only 13 out of the US' 50 states, reflecting his overall rating, which has plummeted to around 43%, according to several surveys carried out by NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist. One poll even suggested that right now, Biden would lose a popular vote to former President Donald Trump.
Tough Summer of 2021
Biden started his first term with a rating of around 60%, but it later dropped to 53%, and then deep into the 40s. The last drop happened over the three summer months, the surveys show. During this period, the Democrat's administration faced a number of crises, such as the spreading Delta variant of COVID-19, mass destruction in several states by Hurricane Ida, and the chaotic pull-out of troops and civilians from Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover of the country. Despite the next presidential election being years away, giving Joe Biden's ratings time to rebound, some Democrats have already grown concerned that this might still cost the party its slim bicameral majority in Congress after the 2022 midterm election.
A sign urging people to vote is seen on the porch of the Democratic Party's Fulton County headquarters on Election Day in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania November 3, 2020. Picture taken November 3, 2020.
© REUTERS / NATHAN LAYNE
The Democratic Party's pollsters and strategists believe that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is having the biggest impact on the president's ratings. Biden was lambasted by his critics for a number of mishaps that happened in connection with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Among them are the failure to extract all Americans from the country and to duly prepare for and execute the evacuation of Afghans who assisted NATO forces and who now fear Taliban* retribution. The insurgent group's rapid takeover of the entire country also did not help Biden's popularity, nor did the deadly Kabul Airport bombing by Daesh-K*, which killed 13 American servicemen amid evacuation efforts.
7 September 2021, 20:19 GMT
The troubled Afghanistan pullout also coincided with the landfall of Hurricane Ida, which was estimated to have been the strongest since Katrina in 2005. The natural disaster left millions across several states without power, with fuel shortages exacerbating the problem. The weakened hurricane also flooded New York, leaving dozens of people dead as a result.
In addition to all this, the US witnessed a rapid rise in daily new COVID-19 cases in August amid the raging Delta variant and continuing disputes over mask mandates at schools. At the same time, the vaccination drive has slowed down in the US, with the Biden administration struggling to motivate people to get the jabs in an effort to reduce the spread of the more contagious Delta strain.
*The Taliban and Daesh-K (also known as ISIS-K) are terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other countries
