President Biden’s approval rating bounces back
The mainstream media (on the left and right) loves to take an individual poll that is completely out of line with the polling averages, and play up that individual poll for shock value, while pretending it’s the only poll. As an example of this, for all the one-off polls the media has kicked around claiming that President Joe Biden’s approval rating was in the thirties, or even the low thirties, the polling averages show that it has never dipped below 41% at any point in his presidency.
But still, 41% isn’t great – and that’s also largely been a result of the media’s dishonest coverage of Biden’s presidency. In an attempt at making Biden scandalously unpopular so it could chase ratings, the media falsely portrayed Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal as a catastrophe, overhyped and mis-explained gas prices and inflation, and falsely claimed that Biden and the Democrats were doing “nothing.”
But over the past month Biden and his Democratic Party have racked up one clear win after another. Biden managed to bring gas prices down. Inflation is leveling off. The Democrats passed groundbreaking legislation. Biden’s executive actions are kicking in. And of course the demise of Roe has prompted voters to increasingly see Biden and the Democrats as the cure to Republican extremism.
Even with Biden racking up wins, and the media portraying him in a more positive light, how much of the damage done to the public discourse can now be undone when it comes to Biden’s presidency and popularity?
The Yahoo News / YouGov poll, which has been one of Biden’s worst polls, had him all the way down to 35% at the start of August. But now he’s bounced back in that poll, climbing to 40%. Again, it’s crucial to put this within the context of the polling averages. Three weeks ago, Biden’s average approval rating bottomed out at 41%. Now that average has risen to 42%. Why does one point matter in the polling averages?
Once new Presidents get past their initial 100 day honeymoon period, their approval ratings typically only ever range from about 35% to about 55%. That means we’re talking about a twenty point scale, not a hundred point scale. So within the range of 35% to 55%, climbing from 41% to 42% actually means something. If Biden can climb over 45% by the midterm elections, it’ll help his party greatly. That kind of number would also put him on track for reelection in 2024. But first things first: the 2022 midterms are just a couple months away. The Democrats need to win the midterms for Biden to be able to continue passing beneficial legislation.
