CNN poll: Biden leaves office with an approval rating that is the lowest of his term

CNN
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President Joe Biden will leave office with his approval ratings remaining at the lowest point of his term and his popularity ratings near his personal low, according to a new SSRS CNN poll. Americans largely view Biden’s four-year term as a failure rather than a success, as his administration has done little to change persistent negativity about the state of the country generally or its economy.

Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say they approve of the way Biden has handled the presidency. This matches his previous poor showing in CNN polls during his term, and even fewer rate his performance positively on immigration (31%) and foreign affairs (32%). or the economy (33%). His biggest concerns about approval ratings still produce negative net results: Less than half said they disliked the way he protected American democracy (46%) protected (44%) or treated by health policy (43%). ).

Biden’s favorability rating, a measure of personal feelings rather than job performance, is 33% favorable to 58% unfavorable, just one point below his previous low in CNN polls since he became vice president under Barack Obama in 2009 (he reached that 32% ). in June 2023). His popularity rating has been in the low 30s for much of the past two years.

First Lady Jill Biden leaves the White House with a largely neutral popularity rating, about the best it has been since 2022 – 33% view her positively and 31% negatively, with 35% unsure what they think of her.

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Vice President Kamala Harris leaves office with a higher popularity rating than she had just before she entered the presidential race last year in July, after Biden announced he was dropping out of the race – 39% now have a favorable opinion, compared to 29% in June – However, perceptions of her are still unclear, with around half of respondents holding a negative opinion (50%). At the start of the Biden presidency in January 2021, Harris’ ratings ranged from 51% positive to 39% negative.

Most Americans, 61%, say they view Biden’s presidency overall as a failure, while 38% view it as a success. That’s well behind two presidencies that are largely viewed as successful: Bill Clinton’s (68% viewed it as a success in 2000) and Barack Obama’s (65% viewed it as a success in early 2017). Biden’s time in office, however, exceeds that of George W. Bush, which 68% of Americans rated as a failure rather than a success when he left office in 2009.

Whether they view Biden’s time in office as a success or failure, most say his performance was due to his own personal actions rather than circumstances beyond his control. Overall, 42% of Americans say Biden’s time was somewhat of a failure due to personal shortcomings, and 23% say it was a success based on his personal strengths. About one in five (19%) said his presidency failed because of external circumstances, and 15% said he succeeded for that reason.

Among Democrats, Biden’s approval rating at the end of his term is 71%, the lowest among his own supporters in CNN national polls during his term. Among independents, 31% now approve of Biden’s handling of the presidency, and 8% of Republicans say the same. Biden rarely managed to get that number into double digits among Republicans, finishing at 10% or higher among Republicans in just three CNN polls during that period. Among political independents, his approval rating fell below 40% in May 2023 and never rose that high again; he has only had one poll (April 2021, about 100 days into his presidency) that received majority support among independents.

Biden’s presidency has never overcome deeply negative feelings about the situation in the country. When he entered the White House in January 2021, just 22% said things were going at least somewhat well in the US – the second most negative rating at the time of a presidential transition in CNN Trends on this question dates back to 1981, when Ronald Reagan took over power after defeating Jimmy Carter (20% in December 2008, before Obama’s presidency, is the lowest). That number never rose above 39% during Biden’s entire term and is now just 29%, with 71% saying things are going badly.

At the same time, a brief upswing in views about the country’s economic situation early in Biden’s term worsened as prices for everyday goods began to rise in 2021 and views on the economy remained negative even as inflation rates fell and unemployment remained low. The share of respondents saying the economy is good rose from 43% just before Biden’s inauguration to 54% around the 100-day mark, but quickly fell back to 37% by the end of 2021. Now just 28% say the economy is in good shape, with 72% saying it is in poor shape. Biden’s approval of his handling of the economy has remained below 40% in CNN polls since the start of 2022.

There is a predictable partisan divide in the way Americans view Biden’s use of power as president: 68% of Republicans say he went too far, while just 6% of Democrats agree with that view. But there is disagreement within Biden’s party over whether he struck the right balance (51%) or underused it (44%). This divide among Democratic-leaning Americans is even more stark by age: A slim majority of younger Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say Biden hasn’t gone far enough (51%), while most Americans age 45 or older say join the Democrats, didn’t go far enough The party says he did the right thing (56%).

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS Jan. 9-12 among a nationwide random sample of 1,205 adults drawn from a probability-based panel. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The results for the entire sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy and Edward Wu contributed to this report.