Biden Seeks Reelection With Sagging Approval Rating

President Joe Biden announced his reelection plans for 2024 on Tuesday with approval numbers near a record low for a president seeking another term.

An average of recent polls regarding Biden’s approval and disapproval ratings compiled by CNN shows Biden with a 41% approval rating, tied for the second-lowest among any president in the past 70 years in April of a third year in office.

Ronald Reagan also had a 41% approval rating in April 1983. Jimmy Carter had the lowest at 40% in April 1979. Biden’s disapproval rating was 56%, CNN reported.

Biden’s reelection run garners lukewarm support even within the Democratic Party. A CBS News poll of 2,093 U.S. adults conducted last week – with a sampling margin of error of plus/minus 3.2 percentage points – showed 55% of Democrats believe Biden should run for reelection, with 45% saying he shouldn’t. Of those saying he shouldn’t, 89% cited his age. Biden, 80, is the oldest U.S. president and would be 86 if he completed two full terms.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed any concerns about Biden’s age.

“When it comes to age, it’s the same thing that we heard in 2020, right?” she said Tuesday at the White House daily briefing. “We heard that over and over in 2020, and if you look at what the president has done his this past two years — he’s been able to deliver and get things done, right? Where Republicans are trying to – Republicans in Congress, Republicans on the other side of Pennsylvania [Avenue] – are trying to pull us back, not move us forward.”

A nationwide AP-NORC poll of 1,230 adults released Friday showed 52% of Democrats, 86% of independents, and 93% of Republicans do not want Biden to run for reelection. The margin of sampling error is plus/minus 3.9 percentage points.

A CNN poll conducted by independent research company SSRS of 1,595 respondents nationwide from March 1-31 and released April 6 shows worse news for Biden. His approval ratings for handling immigration (35%), the economy (37%), and gun policy (37%) fall significantly below his overall approval rating of 42%.

The only area where Biden outperforms his overall approval rating is the environment, and even there, more disapprove (56%) than approve (46%). The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus/minus 3.3 percentage points.

“We understand the polls and what they are saying,” Jean-Pierre said. “In 2022 [actually 2020], let’s not forget, more Americans voted for this president than any other president in history. Let’s not forget, in 2022, the midterm elections – against all odds, right? – against everything we were being told, this president had won of the most successful midterm elections for a Democratic president in 60 years.

“We were able to stop that red wave – that did not happen – and we were able to hold on to the Senate.”