Only 36% of Americans approve of the activities by US President Joe Biden, as revealed by the latest Quinnipiac University survey, with its results having been published by The Hill. This figure has become an all-time low since his election as president a year ago. The previous "record" was set in October, when he only enjoyed support of 38% of Americans surveyed. The latest approval rating of the 46th president has been dubbed a "poke in the eye."
According to the survey, 53% of respondents disapprove of Biden's performance, particularly in the following areas: combating the COVID-19 pandemic (45% of support), climate change (41%), economy (34%) and foreign policy (33%). The most critical are those being a far cry from politics and not deeming themselves as supporters of either Democrats or Republicans.
By the way, Joe Biden's public support was more tangible back in the summer. The decline began with the messy troops withdrawal from Afghanistan. The situation got worse due to the immigration crisis at the southern border with Mexico, the unsuccessful fight against coronavirus (there are over 9 million infected people in America) and the economic backdrop, primarily high inflation and soaring consumer prices.
The troubled political environment has grown even more tense for President Biden with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. Activists and supporters of BLM (Black Lives Matter) were dissatisfied with the court's ruling and staged protests across the country. They oppose the acquittal of an 18-year-old who killed two people and injured another one during the 2020 riots in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. In many US cities, mass protests by BLM supporters who went nuts on Rittenhouse, spiraled into real riots. In this regard, police departments and National Guard units have been put on a hair-trigger alert all over America.
Just a reminder: on November 19, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted by a jury on all counts, including first-degree intentional homicide and four other criminal charges. The jury found him not guilty, having agreed with the public defender that he had acted in self-defense. Rittenhouse's verdict puts President Biden in a political cross hairs. Apart from his popularity drop, he has found himself sandwiched between outraged Democrats who blame the president for his failure to reform the police, and the Republicans who want to exploit the Rittenhouse case and exacerbate the racial injustice national split.
Interestingly, amid the current president's declining popularity in the American media, particularly The Washington Post, Joe Biden's birthday November 20 saw information appear about his intention to run for a second term in the 2024 elections. By the way, he will be nearly 82 at the moment. For this reason, some analysts call such reports nothing but a hoax meant to boost Biden's ratings and show he is as right as rain and ready to lead the country further. Reality indicates the opposite, though.
America is quite obviously split today. The Biden-led Democrats failed to fulfill their election promises and only came to power by sheer smear campaigns and engineered riots. Therefore, by 2024, many Americans may do an about-face of their political stance. Moreover, Donald Trump is already alluding the possibility of once again entering the race in three years. The only question is whether he will withstand the Democrats' information onslaught. They won't give ground imprudently, as proved by the elections of November 2020.
However, there is something wrong about the Democrat camp either, with Joe Biden failing to set the party to rights. For instance, the left and right Democrats have a scrap over the sum to be allocated for America's notorious large-scale infrastructure project. Besides, the Democratic Party lost the recent gubernatorial and local elections in Virginia. And the best is yet to come, as the fall of 2022 will feature a midterm congressional election, with the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate to be re-elected. Today, the Democrats control both chambers (by virtue of the vice president in the Senate, and with a margin of 8 votes in the House), but the election may ace them out.
For the time being, the number of Americans ready to vote for the Democrats and the Republicans is 44% and 41% respectively – a narrow gap that keeps closing. In September, the polls had it 46% against 38%. And President Biden, with his low popularity, is unable to remedy the situation. So the midterm congressional election of 2022 may bring a dramatic difference, and the Republicans' winning the Congress majority may paralyze the Biden government' entire work.
However, these are only problems of 2022. The next presidential election is not far off, too. The party needs to decide whether it should support the current head of state or to hold a new primary. You'd think that 44% vs. 41% is a strong hand to the Democrats. However, it is important to bear in mind that at some point Biden was seen as a democratic messiah and the only worthy centrist candidate in the ocean of left-wing politicians, the one able to win many swing voters, by the way. Over the past year, the party yielded no vivid young centrist Democrat to replace Biden and compete for the White House in 2024.
To compete against Trump, apparently. Almost 50% of Republicans and swing voters who traditionally vote for Republicans are sure of the need to support the 45th president. Only 35% of respondents come out for another candidate. Thus, Donald Trump may well become the Republican candidate in three years. But it's highly questionable whether Joe Biden is to be his rival again...
