A new poll Sunday brought more bad news for President Joe Biden after what critics are calling the worst week of his presidency.
The poll showed that Biden’s approval rating overall currently sits at 44%, which is relatively close to his current average approval rating according to the RealClearPolitics average, but many voters are discontent with Biden because they think he is focusing on all the wrong issues.
The poll found that half of voters are “frustrated” with the Biden presidency, while 49% of voters described themselves as “disappointed,” and 40% said they were “nervous.” Just 25% of voters described themselves as either “calm” or “satisfied.”
Words like “frustrated” and “disappointed” top people’s descriptions of his presidency, along with the feeling that he’s “distracted” and not focusing on what they care about. https://t.co/GUa6CR0vYI pic.twitter.com/ZZrUcpuxcK
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) January 16, 2022
Much of the reason for voters’ sentiment came from the fact that most voters said that Biden was not paying enough attention to pocketbook issues. 58% of voters said that the Biden administration was not focusing enough on the economy as a whole, while 65% said they were not focused enough on the issue of inflation.
“Focus” is a running theme in this story. Most say Biden isn’t paying enough attention to either the economy or inflation — not just that he isn’t handling them well. pic.twitter.com/eoQMm0QJhc
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) January 16, 2022
Moreover, respondents found that the issues Democrats are paying attention to are not the issues they care about. A plurality of voters, 39%, said that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party are focusing on issues they “don’t care about,” while another 28% of respondents said the Democrats’ priorities were things they cared “a little about.” Just 33% of voters said that they “care a lot about” the Democrats’ priority issues.
“Focus” is a running theme in this story. Most say Biden isn’t paying enough attention to either the economy or inflation — not just that he isn’t handling them well. pic.twitter.com/eoQMm0QJhc
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) January 16, 2022
The CBS poll aligns with two more recent polls, which also found that the Democrats’ priorities do not match up with the priorities of voters. A poll conducted by the Associated Press found that most voters want the government to focus on the economy over other issues by a wide margin. The Daily Wire reported:
The poll, conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that just 37% of Americans named the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the top 5 priorities they want the federal government to address in 2022, a steep drop from the 53% who named it a priority at the beginning of 2021.
By contrast, nearly twice as many voters saw the economy as a top concern, with 68% of respondents naming the economy as a priority. AP reported that number was about the same as last year, but anxiety about inflation has sharply risen — 14% of voters listed inflation as a priority concern, up from less than 1% in 2021. The cost of living also rose sharply as a priority, up to 24% from 12% last year.
Notably, the same poll found that the issue of voting rights and Democrats’ proposed federal takeover of elections, which Biden has become more vociferous in pushing, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has threatened to change the filibuster in order to pass, is one of the lowest priority issues for voters. Just 6% of respondents said that voting laws/voter fraud/voting issues should be a priority for the government in 2022.
Another poll released Wednesday by Politico/Morning Consult found that Democrats’ push to pass federal election reform is not an important issue to voters. A plurality of voters, 32%, said that none of the electoral reforms the poll suggested — reforming the electoral counting process, expanding voting access in federal elections, and expanding federal oversight of state-level election reforms — should be a legislative priority. The same poll also found that voters are almost evenly split on whether legislation should require a simple majority of 51 votes, or a supermajority of 60 votes, to pass the Senate, but respondents gave a slight edge to the 60-vote threshold, 41% t0 40% who favored the 51-vote simple majority as the standard.
Story cited here.
