President Biden’s approval ratings when it comes to both the economy and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a big hit in a new poll.
Biden’s overall approval remained at the low level of 41 percent in CNBC’s latest quarterly All-America Economic survey.
More notably, approval of the White House response to the pandemic dropped to 46 percent compared to 48 percent disapproval — putting the president underwater in that category for the first time.
The approval rating for Biden’s handling of the economy sank to 37 percent compared to 56 percent disapproval.
The poll of 800 Americans nationwide has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
“The COVID [approval] number is actually I think the more important one,” Micah Roberts, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollster for the survey, told CNBC. “As goes COVID, so goes the Biden presidency, and that’s really proving to be quite true.”
The poll found that some 41 percent of Americans believe the economy will get worse in the next year, up slightly from the prior quarter’s survey but still a pessimistic reading.
Biden’s overall approval stayed at 41 percent in CNBC’s latest quarterly All-America Economic survey.Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
And inflation has now usurped the pandemic as the greatest concern for the country, according to the survey, followed by immigration, crime and climate change.
It’s not just peripheral voters who are cooling on Biden, the survey shows. The president’s approval rating among people who voted for him has dropped from 80 percent in April to 69 percent in the latest reading, according to the survey.
Americans’ disapproval of Biden is trickling into their feelings about Democrats in Congress, too.
Biden’s approval on his handling of the pandemic also suffered a setback.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
When asked which party they prefer to control Congress, 44 percent of Americans said they’d prefer Republicans, compared with just 34 percent who said they favor Democrats. That’s up from a 2-point edge Republicans had in the last survey.
“If the election were tomorrow, it would be an absolute unmitigated disaster for the Democrats,” Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research Associates and the Democratic pollster for the survey, told CNBC.
