Biden year-end rating worst of modern-day presidents seeking reelection at this point: Gallup
President Biden’s year-end approval rating is worse than any other modern-day president seeking reelection’s has been at this point in the campaign cycle, a new survey found.
According to December polling from Gallup, Biden’s approval rating sits at 39 percent. By comparison, former President Trump’s approval rating sat at 45 percent when he was was seeking reelection in 2019, and former President Obama’s was 43 percent in 2011.
Former President George W. Bush was supported by 58 percent of survey respondents at this time in his reelection cycle, Gallup noted, likely aided by the mid-December capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Former Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush each had 51 percent support while vying for a second term, according to the survey giant. And former President Reagan’s approval rating was 54 percent in 1983, tied with former President Carter’s in 1979.
“Biden enters 2024 with a persistently low job approval rating, the worst of any modern-day president heading in to a tough reelection campaign,” Gallup wrote Friday.
Biden’s latest approval rating is slightly up from a record-low 37 percent support in October and November, but is the fifth time the president has fallen below 40 percent in 2023. He began his term in Jan. 2021 with a high of 57 percent support.
Support among Democrats dipped in October, likely due to the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, but has improved slightly to 78 percent in the recent survey.
Republicans in the new survey, conducted Dec. 1-20, continue to dislike Biden; he has consistently remained in the single digits since Aug. 2021 and earned 5 percent support in the most recent poll.
Independents’ “ratings have been more variable,” Gallup noted. In the recent survey, 34 percent of independent respondents approve of Biden, up 7 points from last month’s polling.
Heading into the election year, Gallup found that Americans feel better about the economy, but it remains a pressing concern for many. Biden’s handling of foreign affairs will also likely play a large role in the campaign, as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars continue and Republicans press on about immigration security at the country’s southern border.
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