As the country approaches the midterms, President Joe Biden’s approval rating has not budged much, and it is not in his favor. In fact, his rating is at a net negative by 12 points, with only 44% of people approving of his job performance and 56% disapproving, according to the latest Fox News national survey.
Biden’s rating has dropped considerably since his positive mark in September 2021 by just one point. Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson, attributes Biden’s poor rating to his mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle and the onset of hyperinflation. Despite several policy rollouts, the president’s approval has remained stagnant.
Many key voting groups, including women, voters aged 45 and older, suburban voters, rural voters, and even Democrats, have given Biden a low approval rating. The president is at a low mark of 41% approval among suburban women. Only 35% of independents approve, which is still an improvement from his 26% low last August.
Unfortunately for the president, a majority of voters disapprove of his handling of national security, foreign policy, border security, and the economy. Biden’s approval rating on these issues is at 53%, 54%, 60%, and 64%, respectively.
Although the president’s approval rating is dismal, he is doing things that voters approve of, such as the executive order requiring criminal background checks on gun buyers, which 74% of people approve of. Additionally, the Willow Project, an oil drilling plan in northern Alaska, has the approval of 54% of voters. Interestingly, more than half of Democrats, independents, and Republicans approve of the project. Similarly, while Democrats overwhelmingly approve of the executive order on gun control, a majority of independents and Republicans also support it.
The Fox News poll, conducted from March 24-27, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, surveyed 1,007 registered voters nationwide who were randomly selected from a voter file and spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
