July 24, 2021- 4:25 p.m.
Joe Biden’s approval rating has fallen to 50 percent, the lowest level of his tenure, but still higher than Donald Trump’s highest rating during his term in office.
The Gallup poll released Friday found that Biden’s assessment of the track had fallen 6 points from a month ago, the first significant change in his assessment since he took office in January.
Presidents usually see some of their highest approval ratings when they take office, but the numbers tend to slip as the honeymoon period ends and discontent mounts.
Biden’s latest number comes as progress in fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the US stalls, with vaccination rates leveling off and cases rising sharply again as the dangerous Delta strain spreads across the country.
Second Quarter Job Approval Averages in Presidents’ First Term
- Eisenhower: 71.5%
- Kennedy: 76.2
- Nixon: 62
- Carter: 63.5
- Reagan: 60.8
- GHW bus: 63.8
- Clinton: 44
- GW bus: 55.8
- Obama: 62
- Trump: 38.8
- Bid 53.3
The survey, conducted between July 6 and 21, also found that 45 percent of American adults disapproved of Biden’s performance and 5 percent had no opinion.
Now, with a 50 percent approval rating, Biden is just above Trump’s record 49 percent sent in February 2020 as the economy roared just before the pandemic hit.
The poll found that endorsement ratings for Biden are widely divided along party lines, as has become the norm for recent presidents.
Fully 90 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance, compared to just 12 percent of Republicans and 48 percent of independents.
In addition to Trump, the new poll compared Biden’s performance rating to that of other former presidents.
Biden’s average approval score for the second quarter of his first term was 53.3 percent, lower than that of Barack Obama (62 percent), George W. Bush (55.8), as well as all presidents between Dwight Eisenhower and George HW Bush.
Clinton’s average over the same period was 44 percent lower than Biden’s. John F. Kennedy was the highest-ranking in the post-war era, with a 76.2 percent approval rating for the April to July period after he first took office.
The poll found that endorsement ratings for Biden are widely divided along party lines, as has become the norm for recent presidents
Biden’s approval rating is showing the first signs of a meaningful decline. If the lower ratings persist, it could indicate that his “honeymoon” period is over,” wrote Gallup analyst Jeffrey M. Jones.
“Since Republicans are unlikely to support him from the start of his presidency, changes in his endorsement will likely come from Democrats and Independents’ evaluations of him,” Jones noted.
“That’s what has happened now, with both groups a little less positive towards Biden than they have been,” he added.
