© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueUS President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden continues to alienate voters with his job performance, and a new poll shows that even among those Americans who give him a thumbs-up, less than half say they "strongly approve."
A
Trafalgar Group poll, which was conducted in the last week of November and released on Wednesday, found that
36.3% of Americans approve of Biden's job performance, against 59.1% who disapprove. That result compared with a 39.6% approval rating when the same researcher polled likely voters in early October.
The survey also showed that even respondents who favor the president are apparently losing their enthusiasm.
Just 18.1% of Americans "strongly approve" of how Biden is handling his job, down from 23.5% in October.And while overall disapprovals are running nearly 23 percentage points ahead of approvals, the gap is even wider among those who feel strongly about him. Trafalgar said
52.2% of Americans "strongly disapprove" of Biden's performance, giving the vehement down-votes a winning margin of more than 34 percentage points.To put that deficit in perspective, it should be noted that
Biden had approval ratings of around 60% during the first few months of his presidency. But that was before a chaotic and deadly US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a surge in inflation to a 30-year high, and growing concerns over an illegal immigration crisis. Another earlier
poll also showed
Biden turned off some voters - particularly black Americans - when he imposed sweeping Covid-19 vaccine mandates that have been repeatedly challenged in federal courts.
A
Gallup poll released in October indicated that
Biden was the most disappointing new president - suffering the biggest decline in approval ratings - since Harry Truman took over for his deceased predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, in 1945.
That latest Trafalgar survey found that
51.2% of independents and nearly 25% of Democrats now strongly disapprove of Biden's performance. Fewer than 3 in 10 independents approve of Biden's handling of the presidency, while
62.1% disapprove.The Trafalgar poll is weighted to Democrats (39.3% of respondents, versus 35.6% Republicans) and women (53.3% versus 46.7% men). A separate
Trafalgar survey that was released on Tuesday showed that
54.2% of voters believe that Biden is responsible for divisions among the American people. Democrats and Republicans were predictably polarized on the issue, but 64.1% of independents blamed the president for the divisions.
Also last month, Trafalgar found that
52% of Americans believe that Biden's signature legislative initiative, the
"Build Back Better" bill, will hinder the nation's economic recovery. Only 38.3% said the plan will actually help.
Comment: As illusions continue to burst, we are daily reminded just how corrupted politics and leadership have become and how far and fast the USA has slipped. To this 'end', Biden is doing a remarkably thorough job.