President Joe Biden’s approval rating has sunk to a new low, with only 36% of Americans saying they approve of his job performance and 59% saying they disapprove, according to polls taken in the last week of May by Reuters/Ipsos. Biden’s current approval rating is just a few percentage points higher than the 33% low former President Donald Trump hit in December 2017, according to Reuters.
Biden’s current approval rating also represents a 6% slide from the previous week, when it was at 42%, Reuters reported.
This time last year, Biden’s approval rating was 63%, nearly twice what it is now, according to Forbes.
Only 16% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, according to the most recent Gallup poll, while 83% of Americans expressed dissatisfaction.
Differences showed up along party lines in both polls:
- Ninety percent of Republicans disapproved of Biden’s job performance while 72% of Democrats approved of Biden’s leadership, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.
- Four percent of Republicans reported being satisfied with how things are going in the country, according to Gallup, compared to 24% of Democrats.
Americans of both parties, however, agree about one thing. When asked what concerns them the most — the economy, the health care system, the environment, inequality and crime were among their options — a strong consensus emerged around the economy.
Around one-third of Americans (36%) said the economy was the most important issue, according to Reuters, and it was the top concern of Democrats and Republicans alike. For Democrats, inequality came in a distant second at 12%; for Republicans, it was immigration.
With midterms on the horizon, some have speculated that Biden’s low approval ratings could cost them the control of the House of Representatives.
“I don’t know what’s required here,” South Carolina’s Democrat Rep. James Clyburn said to NBC News, “But I do know the poll numbers have been stuck where they are for far too long.”