WATCH: Biden Responds to Local Anchor About 38 Percent Approval, Says His Numbers Are Comparable to Obama, Bush, Clinton
Local Ohio news anchor Kyle Inskeep confronted President Joe Biden about a recent poll that showed his approval rating at just 38 percent, and another that showed Americans dissatisfied with Biden’s priorities.
On Monday, President Biden sat for interview with WKRC Local 12 News in Cincinnati to discuss the infrastructure bill that was passed last week, which he said will begin to flow dollars into Ohio “literally within a matter of weeks.”
Inskeep wrapped up the interview by asking the president about that pair of recent polls.
“I want to turn to your polling really quickly here, the latest polling from USA Today has your approval rating at 38 percent, a new CNN poll shows 58 percent of Americans believe that you aren’t paying enough attention to the nation’s most important issues,” Inskeep said, and asked “Is this giving you kind of a sign that maybe you need to recalibrate some of your administration’s priorities as you approach that one year mark in office?”
Biden responded by pointing out another approval poll that shows him at “48 percent to 52 percent,” likely that CNN poll that Inskeep referenced.
“Look, the point is I didn’t run because of the polls,” Biden said, and expressed hope that the infrastructure bill and the passage (“God willing”) of the Build Back Better legislation will “have a significant impact on ordinary Americans like households I came from…”
He went on to add that “as I looked at the polling data, literally as I was walking out of the office after doing another thing I had to do, is my polling numbers are the same, essentially what everyone from Bush to Clinton to… Obama were at the same time.”
Biden then acknowledged the problems facing the country, such as the pandemic and gas prices, and said “So there’s a lot of things. You have people that are really a great deal of anxiety, a great deal of concern and they all relate to, even though we’ve created almost six million jobs since I came into office, we’re at a situation where people don’t… feel it right now. They don’t feel it.”
According to Gallup, President Biden’s 42 percent approval in that poll is three points lower than that of former President Barack Obama and five points lower than former President Bill Clinton’s at the same point in their respective presidencies, but well short of the 87 percent post-9/11 approval rating of George W. Bush. Biden is currently five points ahead of former President Donald Trump’s November 2017 rating of 37 percent.
Watch above via WKRC.
