A recently released poll from Emerson College has revealed more bad news for the Biden administration, chiefly the fact that the incumbent president has fallen 12 points in favorability relative to former President Donald J. Trump.
Per the results of the poll, 59 percent of voters demonstrated either a “somewhat” or “very favorable” view of the 45th president, whereas only 47 percent expressed similar views about Biden.
However, in terms of a theoretical 2024 matchup, Trump’s lead narrows, with 45 percent of respondents indicating a preference for Trump and 42 percent of respondents indicating a preference for Biden.
However, even though the poll demonstrates a strong preference towards Trump, his overall favorability and disapproval ratings remain somewhat constant since February: His favorability remains at 43 percent, while his disapproval decreased to 49 percent.
Over the course of his presidency, Biden’s approval numbers have decreased exponentially, as evidenced from multiple polls. The reasons for disapproval are far-ranging, including the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, the ongoing COVID pandemic, and skyrocketing gasoline prices.
Amongst all the issues that voters are the most concerned with, the economy is the most important at 37 percent, followed by healthcares at 14 percent. The third-most important concern includes the ongoing invasion of Ukraine at 12 percent.
A significant percentage of respondents blamed Biden directly for extremely high gas prices, with 39 percent attributing the elevated costs to the White House, rather than Russia.
Following the majority, 21 percent blamed higher gas prices on Russian sanctions, followed by 18 percent blaming oil companies.
Biden has the opportunity to improve his approval ratings after traveling to Europe this week for a NATO summit, as 59 percent of respondents believe that the president should be in attendance.
Nonetheless, 51 percent of respondents believe that Biden needs to focus more at length on domestic issues, while 35 percent believe he should focus on the current war in Ukraine.
According to Spencer Kimball, who serves as Executive Director of the Emerson College Poll, “[the president] struggles among Independent voters: Just 28 percent approve of the job he is doing while 64 percent disapprove.”
Heading into the 2022 midterms, Republicans still hold a major advantage, per the results of the poll. Approximately 47 percent indicate that they will continue supporting whoever the GOP candidates are; 42 percent indicate that they will support whoever the Democrat candidates are; and 11 percent remain undecided.