Joe Biden plummets to embarrassing new low

As he tries to navigate the awkward period before Donald Trump takes power, Joe Biden’s already low popularity has reached new depths.

US President Joe Biden’s approval rating has cratered to its lowest ever level as he navigates the awkward period before he hands over power to Donald Trump on January 20.

Mr Biden has been broadly unpopular for years, at this point, and American voters’ disapproval of his performance as president was undoubtedly a factor in Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss to Mr Trump in November’s election.

He has been hammered, in particular, for failing to sufficiently address the cost of living. America’s inflation rate peaked at 9.1 per cent in mid-2022, and has since fallen back below 3 per cent – a less severe dose of pain than most other advanced economies have experienced.

But goods are still about 20 per cent more expensive now than they were when Mr Biden took office in January of 2021. No excuse can alter that fact.

Concerns about his age and mental acuity, which already existed when he won the 2020 election, have only deepened in the years since. They culminated in his halting performance during a presidential debate against Mr Trump earlier this year, back when he was still running for re-election.

That debate was ultimately the catalyst for his own party to force him out of the race, fearing he would lose to Mr Trump in a landslide. Ms Harris quickly replaced him as the Democratic nominee, and went on to lose anyway, though by a narrower margin than Mr Biden would have managed, if the polls are to be believed.

US President Joe Biden. Picture: Mauro Pimentel/AFP

Today’s new poll, published by Marquette University, shows Mr Biden’s approval rating at an indisputably dismal 34 per cent, with 66 per cent of respondents disapproving.

Mr Trump, by contrast, is in quite healthy shape, with 53 per cent approving and 47 per cent disapproving. It’s difficult to judge how sustainable that will prove to be; winning presidential candidates generally enjoy a honeymoon period that subsequently fades, but given how well-known Mr Trump is among Americans already, perhaps their positive view of him here will prove to be more durable.

Mr Biden’s polling average has hovered at 40 per cent or thereabouts since about mid-2023, without much movement in either direction. Before that it tended to be in the mid-40s, which was comparable to Mr Trump’s rating throughout his first term.

Overall, his average approval rating is the worst since ... well, Mr Trump’s. Or Jimmy Carter’s, if you want to go back much further. But as you can see above, the President-elect’s ratings have improved markedly since he left office.

Thirty-four per cent, though? We are plumbing low depths here. Mr Trump reached that point once during his time as president, in 2021. And his fellow Republican George W. Bush sank into the mid-20s after the Global Financial Crisis struck, having already suffered a backlash against the Iraq War.

Joe Biden isn’t winning any popularity contests at the moment. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

Part of the problem, for Mr Biden, is that he isn’t just suffering the disapproval of Americans who are struggling with the cost of living. He is also on the bad side of Democrats who resent him for seeking re-election, instead of stepping aside and allowing the party to choose a more suitable – one might say a more rhetorically coherent – nominee.

By the time Mr Biden dropped out, there was practically no time available to properly pick a new presidential nominee, meaning Ms Harris inherited the role almost by default.

If Mr Biden had decided, much earlier, not to run again, a proper primary campaign could have been waged, inviting candidates to compete for the nomination. And that would have allowed a wide field of Democrats to step forward.

But here we are.

This guy doesn’t mind. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

Mr Biden is still the president until January 20, but his public appearances since the election have been sparse – prompting even his political allies to wonder about his absence.

The fear, among Democrats, is that it feels like Mr Trump is already in charge.

Jon Favreau, a former Obama staffer who now co-hosts the pro-Democrat podcast Pod Save America, said this week that Mr Biden “seems to be disappearing from the public stage”.

“So, the purpose of Trump’s appearance at Mar-a-Lago on Monday morning was to announce a $US100 billion investment from SoftBank, the hugely influential Japanese bank in American AI projects,” Mr Favreau said during an episode of the podcast.

“What an American story. It was more or less a standard presidential policy announcement, the main difference being Trump isn’t president yet.

“A fact that’s getting easier and easier to forget as Joe Biden seems to be disappearing from the public stage as his term comes to an end.”

Mr Favreau said Mr Biden “could be giving speeches or press conferences where he talks about the importance of defending democratic institutions”, for example, but had instead quite completely receded into the background, ceding the public debate to his successor.

The podcast’s hosts have repeatedly lamented Mr Biden’s choice to run for the presidency again, despite his age and unpopularity. They’ve referred to that decision as a “catastrophic mistake”.

“They refused to acknowledge until very late that anyone could be upset about inflation,” Mr Favreau said during one episode, referring to Mr Biden’s staff.

“And they just kept telling us that his presidency was historic and it was the greatest economy ever.”

Originally published as Joe Biden plummets to embarrassing new low