Biden's Ratings Slip to Historic Low: Those Who Touted Bidenomics Fearful of Looking Fraudulent
02:43 GMT 28.12.2023 (Updated: 12:40 GMT 28.03.2024)
© AP Photo / Evan Vucci
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US President Joe Biden’s approval rating dipped to a historic low in December: the 81-year-old’s approval rating slipped below 40% for the fifth time this year. His approval rating is also the lowest when compared to the past seven presidents at the same point during in their first term in office.
Biden’s approval rating hit 39% for the month of December, and when compared to other former presidents, his is the lowest of the bunch. Former president Donald Trump’s rating was 45% in December of 2019, Barack Obama's was 43% in 2011, and George W. Bush's was 58% in 2003. But despite the low approval rating, the Biden administration isn’t willing to walk back on their “Bidenomics” policies because they’re afraid of looking “fraudulent”, said Peter Coffin, a journalist and author who spoke with Sputnik’s The Final Countdown on Wednesday.
“It is a historic low for a modern sitting president at this point in their term,” said Coffin about Biden’s recent approval rating.
18 December 2023, 15:34 GMT
Biden’s lowest job approval rating was 37% which occurred three times, and was most recently recorded in November. Meanwhile, his average approval rating has lingered around 43% for his first term.
“Yes, the unemployment [in the US] is low but it’s negligible compared to Trump’s non-COVID numbers,” Coffin continued. “Unemployment was actually higher with most of these presidents that we’re mentioning who had higher approval ratings,” he added, emphasizing the point that there seems to be little correlation between unemployment rates and a president’s approval rating.
“A lot of unemployment numbers are considered somewhat inaccurate, like there are various polling firms that keep a real unemployment tally which is significantly higher than what’s reported,” added Coffin.
“Bidenomics, this brand that he’s brought up and tried to paint as this massive improvement for the country, doesn’t look very different from how it’s been,” he continued. “Just because inflation has slowed down doesn’t mean those prices have returned to the previous point. It means that rather than 9% inflation—which was our highest inflation rate during this whole thing—we’re down in the 3% range,” said Coffin. “That’s still prices going up as money becomes less valuable.”
“There’s a lot of people who would vote that are not in a great situation financially speaking, and they attribute that to the economy,” said Coffin.
23 September 2023, 00:07 GMT
A poll from earlier this month showed that more Americans believe their standard of living is worse than their parents’ was. A majority of these include millennials and Gen-Xers, who are in an age group that is typically known for their prime working years. The poll also found that 85% of Americans pay more attention to their real life experiences than they do to national data.
A separate poll from November also found that 81% of registered voters in the US viewed the economy as either “fair” or “poor”.
“The way I see it, the economy has absolutely slowed. It’s maybe not what people are being told, but it doesn’t seem like—maybe for the finance guys it’s not—but it doesn’t seem like it’s actually speeding up to most people,” said Coffin.
Coffin was then asked how Biden expects to survive “$45 fried chicken” that was reportedly found on a restaurant menu in the US.
“I don't see how he really can, but I also, on the other hand, am not really so sure if they're going to be so quick to kick him off, because I don’t know if they look good when they change direction so quickly,” said Coffin, adding that the Democrats are most likely fearful of walking back on their Bidenomics plan because they don’t want to look fraudulent.
“It’s a credibility problem, I think they’re kind of damned if they do, damned if they don’t, and that’s why I think they’re ultimately going to air on the side of safety and probably keep him [as a Democratic presidential nominee]” said Coffin. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Trump with all of these legal battles going on, but I don't see Biden winning, honestly, the way that things are going it just doesn't look like Biden has a legitimate chance.”
The likelihood of Democrats having a “plan B” for Biden is slim to none. Not only is it difficult to run a political campaign against a sitting president, but Biden is still relatively popular among Democratic voters despite his single digit approval ratings among Republicans. And the deadline to enter one’s name on the primary ballot has already passed for many states.
