U.S. President Joe Biden leaves the White House in Washington, D.C. March 8, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON – An average of 41.3 percent of U.S. adults approved of the job Joe Biden was doing as president, during his fifth quarter in office, the latest Gallup poll released on Friday showed.
The number was essentially unchanged from the 41.7 percent in his fourth quarter but was significantly lower than his first three quarterly averages.
Biden enjoyed majority approval ratings during his first two quarters in office. His job approval ratings in eight Gallup polls conducted since September have ranged narrowly between 40 percent and 43 percent.
A trying late summer and early fall 2021, marked by a surge in new COVID-19 cases, the troubled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and rapidly increasing gas prices and inflation, led to a decline in the veteran Democrat's public support, Gallup wrote in an analysis of the numbers.
From a historical perspective, Biden's fifth quarter average is lower than that of any prior elected president, except his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump. Trump averaged 39.1 percent during his fifth quarter.
Gallup said Biden's low job approval rating stands as a significant threat to the Democratic Party's chances of maintaining its slim majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Typically, unpopular presidents' parties have lost seats in midterm elections, with the number of seats lost usually much higher for presidents with job approval ratings below 50 percent.
"As things stand, given the strong link between presidential job approval ratings and how the president's party performs in midterm elections, Biden appears likely to be governing with Republican majorities in one or both houses of Congress next year unless his rating dramatically improves," the analysis read.
Biden was in Seattle, Washington on Friday to mark Earth Day.
"We've reached the point that the crisis on the environment has become so obvious, with the notable exception of the former president, that we really have an opportunity to do things we couldn't have done two, five, ten years ago," Biden said, taking a swipe at Trump.
"This crisis is a genuine opportunity, an opportunity to do things we've wanted to do that only now have become so apparent," he added during a speech at Seattle's Seward Park.
Biden called on Congress to pass climate legislation that his administration had proposed, before signing an executive order aimed at protecting forests on federal lands.
Biden also used his speech to criticize Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who's in the hot seat after tapes released of him this week revealed he made comments critical of Trump, some of which he originally denied.
"This ain't your father's Republican Party," he said. "All you've got to do is look this morning at the tape that was released ... kidding aside, this is the MAGA party now." (Xinhua)
