Poll: Biden Approval Rating Hits Record Low

An ABC News/Ipsos poll, conducted the first week of January spells bad news for President Joe Biden. Only 33 percent of those surveyed said they approved President Biden’s job performance, a record low in his presidency and for any president in the last 15 years. In September 2023, 37 percent of U.S. adults approved of his performance. Biden’s disapproval rating edged up to 58 percent from 56 percent in September. In his bid for reelection, Biden has a lower approval rating than former President Donald Trump.

Last night, Trump swept the Iowa caucus with over 50 percent of the vote and is expected to secure the GOP nomination in his bid for the presidency, yet the poll shows that Trump’s disapproval rating is 53 percent, up from 49 percent in September.

Digging into the data, 47 percent of respondents say Trump has adequate mental sharpness compared to Biden’s 28 percent. Likewise, only 28 percent of respondents says Biden is in good physical health compared to Trump’s 57 percent. Biden leads Trump by 15 points when respondents were asked if either candidate were “honest and trustworthy.” The poll surveyed 2,228 adults and had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

President Biden will head to Nevada this month to rally support among Latino voters, a key demographic in a swing state like Nevada and at a time when the economy and rising energy and household costs are top concerns of Nevadans. According to reports, Biden will focus on the economy and “gun violence” while positioning himself as “having done more for these communities than any other president or any other administration.”

Biden’s visit to the swingy Silver State follows Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Las Vegas earlier this month where she delivered brief remarks to the powerful Culinary Union, stating: “The strength of working people is the backbone of the strength of our nation.”

Yet, the strength of the economy is the top concern of Nevada voters.

As reported by The Globe in November 2023, Nevadans are spending an extra $13,296 a year to afford the basic household necessities since Biden assumed office. In May 2022, The Globe reported that Nevadan household were hit the hardest by inflation. At that time, Nevadans were paying an additional $8,231 annually for basic household expenses.

Based on these estimates, Nevadans have nearly doubled their monthly expenses in just one year.

A recent poll confirms that only 38 percent of Nevada voters indicate that they approve of the job that President Biden is doing while 53 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. 46 percent of respondents “strongly” disapprove of Biden.

In 2020, Biden won Nevada by a razor-thin two percent, defeating President Donald Trump by a margin of 25,000 votes. At that time, Biden’s approval rating hovered around 57 percent. According to this latest poll, Biden’s approval numbers have cratered by nearly 25 percent in four years.

Trump is expected to return to Nevada for the “First in the West Caucus” held by the Nevada GOP on February 8, two days after the state-run presidential primary election. Nevada Republicans have participated in caucus primaries since 1980 and maintain that it is the purest form of voter participation and election integrity as the caucus will require identification to vote and will release the results from each precinct that evening– as opposed to a state-run presidential primary which is estimated to cost $5 million and will include universal mail balloting and delayed election results.

Critics of the caucus claim that it is “rigged” for Trump and the dueling February primary and caucus has caused confusion among GOP voters. With Vivek Ramaswamy dropping out of the presidential race last night, caucus-goers will now choose between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Trump. The only viable candidate on the primary ballot is former United Nations Ambassador Niki Haley or “none of the above.” Haley placed third in the Iowa caucus.

Last month, Trump held a Commit to Caucus rally in Reno, NV. Throughout his hour-long speech, Trump excoriated the Biden administration over inflation, the border crisis, and Biden’s cognitive decline, referring to Biden numerous times as a “threat to democracy.”