Only 46 percent of registered Massachusetts voters in a new poll said they approved of Joe Biden’s performance as president despite the state being considered a Democratic stronghold.
A new poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe also showed that voters who were not registered with either party also had a less than stellar outlook on Biden’s time in office. Only 39 percent of respondents said they approved, and 52 percent said they did not.
Among voters ages 35 or younger, only 37 percent approved of Biden. Additionally, 51 percent of respondents said they believe the economy is in a recession or depression.
The poll was conducted between April 24 and April 28, and it included 765 registered voters. Among registered voters, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
With midterm elections fast approaching, David Paleologos, who is the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, suggested that this poll’s results could signal public opinion of Biden on a more national scale.
“When independents in Massachusetts are that negative on an incumbent Democratic president who won this state going away, one wonders what an independent swing-state voter in Ohio, Nevada, or New Hampshire is thinking,” Paleologos said, according to The Boston Globe. “It poses a real challenge for the midterm elections for Democrats.”
But as the Biden administration works on issues like considering forgiveness of student loan debt, the president is perhaps looking to appeal to younger voters.
The administration has already extended the pandemic moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest accrual through August but is under pressure to go even further to forgive debt.