Biden Poll Numbers Are Historically Low, But Remain Higher Than Trump At This Point: Gallup
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President Joe Biden’s polling troubles continued to worsen during the fifth quarter of his presidency, making him the second most unpopular leader at this point in his presidency in the modern era – according to the most recent Gallup data.
Gallup’s Jefferey Jones noted Friday that Biden’s 41.3 percent average approval from January 20 to April 19 is slightly below his fourth-quarter average of 41.7 percent.
“Biden enjoyed majority approval ratings during his first two quarters in office,” Jones explains. “A trying late summer and early fall 2021, marked by a surge in new coronavirus cases, the troubled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and rapidly increasing gas prices and inflation, led to a decline in Biden’s public support.”
Many pundits and observers pinpoint Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which played out over the course of many days across American televisions screens, as the turning point in Biden’s relationship with the pubic.
“From a historical perspective, Biden’s fifth quarter average is lower than that of any prior elected president, except Donald Trump,” Jones explains. “Trump averaged 39.1% during his fifth quarter.”
George W. Bush has the highest fifth quarter of any president since Dwight Eisenhower, with a 79.5 percent approval. Bush’s approval from January to April of 2002 was sky-high in the wake of Bush rallying the country after the trauma of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush landed in second and third place, with 78 percent and 70.5 percent approval ratings – respectively.
Bush would go on to lose reelection to Bill Clinton in 1992 as the economy soured and a third party bid split the Republican base.
Jones notes that history provides only unfavorable precedents for Biden to improve his numbers between now and the midterm elections, “ doing so would go against the historical pattern for second-year presidents.”
“To date, only one president — Trump — saw any gains in his job approval ratings between the fifth and seventh quarters in office,” Jones adds noting that Trump saw a slight increase from a 39 percent approval to a 41 percent approval ratings between his fifth and seventh quarters.
