As President Biden stares down the barrel of yet another possible disaster scenario in the Ukraine, things just keep seeming to go from bad to worse for the beleaguered administration. With all the chaos and discontent spreading throughout the country and the world, it’s no surprise that Biden and his party have been on the receiving end of some very, very bad polling news. But with all the numbers and data swirling around from dozens of polling agencies and news outlets, it’s helpful to take a step back to see the full picture of where Biden and Democrats stand with the public today. That picture is a decidedly grim one and, if history is any guide, may get much worse in the months ahead. Much of the discussion about Biden’s dreadful poll numbers has focused on his ever-slipping approval rating. The most recent Real Clear Politics average shows Biden’s approval at just 41.1%, down from 55% at the beginning of his term. Even more striking is the percentage of Americans who disapprove, which has risen from 36% to 55% in just over a year.
Some polls even found Biden’s approval rating to be as low as 33%, virtually unprecedented for a president this early in his term. For reference, the average Gallup approval rating of all presidents in January of their second year in office going back to 1938 is 53%. At this point in their presidencies, George H.W. Bush sat at 80% approval, Bill Clinton at 55%, George W. Bush at 84%, Barack Obama at 49%, and even Donald Trump, who even left-wing media outlets now admit was far more popular than his polling indicated throughout his presidency, managed 38% approval. And..........
