Biden's popularity drops to 42% just one year before the midterm elections

By Mark Murray -

Most Americans disapprove of the performance of President Joe Biden, while half rate him low on his ability to unite the country and make it more competitive, according to the results of the most recent NBC News national poll, Telemundo's sister network.

The poll also reveals that seven in 10 adults, including nearly half of those Democrats, believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction under his leadership.

And

, just nine months after he took office.

With a year before the 2022 midterm elections and less than a week into Virginia's tight race for governor, this drop in approval of Biden's performance has also taken its toll on his party: Democrats lag behind. Republicans as to

Democrats too

they have lost approval on issues like education and the coronavirus.

Approval of Biden's work continues to fall.

The NBC News poll was conducted from October 23-26 and its margin of error is ± 3.1 percentage points.Graphic: JoElla Carman / NBC News

"Democrats are facing a country whose opinion of President Biden has taken a sharp negative turn since April," said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of the group Hart Research Associates, who conducted the poll alongside Republican Bill McInturff of Public Opinion. Strategies.

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"The promise of the Biden presidency - knowledge, competence and stability in difficult times - has been called into question," Horwitt continued.

"What people voted for was stability and calm," added fellow Democrat Peter Hart.

"And what he got was instability and chaos."

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In the poll, 42% of adults say they approve of Biden's overall job as president, down seven points from August.

Meanwhile, 54% say they disapprove of the president's work, an increase of six points since August.

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Taking into account historical data from the Gallup pollster, Biden's approval rating in this poll (42%) is lower than that of any other modern president in his first term and at a similar time, with the exception of Donald Trump. (whose approval averaged 37% in Fall 2017).

The NBC News poll comes after a difficult summer and early fall for the president, who

Too

the fallout from America's chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, rising inflation, disappointing employment figures, and Democrats' infighting over Biden's legislative agenda.

President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Rome on Sunday, October 31, 2021. Andrew Medichini / AP

More recently, however, COVID-19 cases and deaths have declined again, and Capitol Democrats have made progress on the president's legislative priorities but have yet to cross the line.

The survey reveals that

(seven points less than in August), and 51% approve of his management of the coronavirus (two points less).

Perhaps most concerning to Biden is that only 37% of adults rate him highly - on a five-point scale - for being competent and effective as president, and only 28% rate him highly for his work at unite the country.

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On the contrary, 50% give it a low score for being competent, and 51% give it a low score for uniting the country.

Signs of pessimism and optimism

While the president's approval of the pandemic is nearly even, more are now disapproving of his handling of the economy.

Lastly, Biden's favorable / unfavorable rating in the survey (40% positive, 48% negative) is nearly identical to Trump's in the same survey (38% positive, 50% negative).

This is a departure from the 2020 general election, when Biden's favorable / unfavorable rating was significantly higher than Trump's.

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71% say they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, an increase of eight points since August.

This includes 93% of Republicans, 70% of independents, and even 48% of Democrats.

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"When 71% think the country is going the wrong way, that's a red flag," said pollster McInturff.

To the question about the future of the country, only 41% of those surveyed say that America's best years are yet to come, while 53% say that its best years are over.

Yet despite that pessimism,

Most of those surveyed - 56% - believe that the worst is over with regard to the pandemic, an increase of 18 points compared to August, when the delta variant began to spread throughout the country.

And 30% of Americans say they are getting on when it comes to their financial situation, while 45% say they are staying where they are.

That compares with 24% who say they are lagging behind or regressing.

Biden facing the 2022 elections

Heading into the 2022 midterm elections, which will take place a year from now, 47% of registered voters say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 45% say they want Republicans to be in control. command, which means almost no change since August.

However, the Republican Party enjoys a significant advantage in enthusiasm at this point in the election cycle, with 69% of Republicans expressing a high level of interest in the midterm elections (on a scale of one to 10), compared to 58% of Democrats who maintain the same level of interest.

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When asked which party best handles certain issues, Republicans have double-digit advantages in border security (by 27 points), inflation (24 points), crime (22 points), national security (21 points), economics (18 points). ), be effective and take care of things (13 points).

By contrast, Democrats have double-digit advantages in abortion (by 10 points), coronavirus (12 points), and climate change (24 points), but all of those advantages are less than what the party enjoyed during the election. 2020.

How much does Trump influence Biden's popularity?

Finally, the poll finds that 20% of registered voters say their vote in 2022 will be a sign of opposition to Trump and 21% say it will be a sign of opposition to Biden.

The majority of voters - 52% - say their vote will signal neither Trump nor Biden.

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"Little tells me that Trump, a year after the election, is a unique figure driving the vote," McInturff said.

The NBC News poll was conducted Oct. 23-26 of 1,000 adults - 650 of whom were contacted by cell phone only - and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The margin of error for the 820 registered voters in the poll is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.