A new poll has found that less than a year before he seeks reelection, US President Joe Biden has among the lowest poll numbers he has ever recorded.
Biden’s 39% approval rating in December 2023 is “the worst of any modern-day president heading into a tough reelection campaign,” the polling company Gallup said on Friday.
While up slightly from 37% last month, December is still the fifth month in 2023 in which Biden polled below 40%. For the first few months and again during the summer, Biden’s job approval rating breached 40%, but especially since the autumn began it has been below that already-low threshold.
The head of state, who has been given the unenviable moniker of “Genocide Joe” by protesters furious over his administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, has faced nonstop mass protests since early October, peaking in a 500,000-strong rally on November 4 demanding his administration press Israel for an immediate ceasefire. American Arabs and Muslims have expressed their disappointment with Biden’s decision, making popular the slogan “in November we remember,” joined by an increasing number of American Jews – small but important demographics for the Democratic Party when their opposition is increasingly embracing Islamophobic policies and antisemitic attitudes.
Still, he retains 78% support among Democrats, Gallup found, although that is among the lowest approval ratings from his own party since Biden took office in January 2021.
Just 5% of Republicans approve of Biden’s job as president, a level unchanged since September, and 34% of Independents approve of the job he is doing – a substantial rise from 27% in November.
Compared to other recent presidents, Biden’s polling is the lowest at this point in their reelection campaign. In December 2019, former US President Donald Trump was at 45%, while his predecessors Barack Obama was at 43% in December 2011; George W. Bush was at an enviable 58% in December 2003. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush were both at 51% in December 1995 and December 1991, respectively, whereas Ronald Reagan was at 54% at this time in 1983, as was Jimmy Carter in 1979.
Notably, Carter, the elder Bush, and Trump all failed to secure a second term, despite their stronger numbers.
However, the war in Gaza isn’t the only thing dragging Biden’s poll numbers down: his administration’s support for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border, persistently elevated inflation numbers, and the scandal involving the business affairs of his son, Hunter Biden, have all contributed to disillusionment with the 81-year-old’s job performance.
On the Democratic side of things, Biden is far and away the leading contender for the Democratic Party’s nomination, with the Democratic National Committee going so far as to cancel all primary debates. On the Republican side, Trump holds a powerful lead over several other candidates, making him the presumptive nominee for the GOP.
In recent polls on a hypothetical election tomorrow between Biden and Trump, Biden is consistently a few points behind Trump, with Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, faring even poorer when featured as the Democratic candidate instead of him.
Both Biden and Trump could face legal hurdles in the coming months, however, as Trump is set to face trial in four separate cases dealing with dozens of felony charges that could disqualify him from holding public office, and earlier this month, Biden saw the US House of Representatives vote to formally open an impeachment inquiry into the president’s relationship with his son’s business affairs.
