President Joe Biden isn’t the least popular president of all time or anywhere close to that, but people’s perception of him has changed over the past seven months.
Biden, who took office on January 20, 2021, this year, entered office with an approval rating above 50 percent. Now, it’s below that mark. As of August 18, 2021, Biden’s net approval rating had dropped by 11.9 points since taking office. Among likely or registered voters, the decline was higher. It dropped by 13.3 points, according to FiveThirtyEight.
With every major poll averaged together and weighted by dependability, Biden had a 49.3 percent approval rating while 44.2 percent of Americans disapproved of him as of August 18, FiveThirtyEight calculates. It’s a sharp drop from when he took office with a 53 percent approval rating and 36 percent of people disapproving of him. That’s a net approval of 5.1 points instead of 17 points.
Likely or registered voters had a more positive opinion of him, but there are fewer undecideds. So while 49.4 of those people approve of Biden, his disapproval rating among them crept up to 45.2 percent. For reference, he was at 53.6 percent approval and 36.1 percent disapproval among that same group of people when he took office. So instead of having a net approval of 17.5 points, it’s down to 4.2 points.
Biden’s declining approval rating comes at a time when the United States and the world face many problems.
For example, the Biden administration went through with its plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban wasted no time overthrowing the country’s government. The Taliban controlled much of the mountain regions of the country but gained control of Kabul with little resistance on Sunday, August 15 — putting the Islamist group back in control of the country for the first time in 20 years. It’s a move that resulted in bipartisan criticism of the administration, including critiques from U.S. Representative Seth Moulton (D-Salem).
Critics blame the Biden administration’s withdrawal for allowing the Taliban to swiftly regain power. Critics also blame the administration for high inflation and high unemployment — the latter of which many argue is a result of the federal government offering an additional $300 per week in enhanced unemployment benefits.
They also point to higher government spending, including a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that Biden signed into law in March, as something that contributed to high inflation. As of the start of August, the United States experienced a 5.4 percent inflation rate over the last 12 months. In the 12 months before that, it was below 2 percent.
While Biden’s approval rating is on the decline, the American public still holds a higher opinion of him than they do of the country’s vice president, Kamala Harris. Harris crossed over into having a net-negative approval rating in late June 2021 and it has stayed there since, according to The Los Angeles Times. About 45 percent of the country approves of Harris while 48 percent disapproves, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
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