Call it an overall lack of confidence in the Biden administration’s inability to handle Covid-19, care for the economy, and keep Americans safe. It’s a three-legged stool that has lost its legs with no end in sight for a White House that can’t find a bottom or get a footing on any issue. New numbers from ABC News/Ipsos out this weekend shed some light on where Biden stands with the American people heading into the end of 2021, and it’s not good.
One Covid, the public still approves generally of Biden’s job, but his disapproval number has skyrocketed since March:
As the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads across the country, resulting in renewed mask mandates, travel restrictions and a third vaccine shot, Biden took a significant hit in Americans’ faith in his handling of the pandemic. While a majority of Americans (53%) still approve of Biden’s response, 45% disapprove, marking the most since he took office and a nearly 20 percentage point drop from March, when 72% of Americans approved of his response.
It’s probably a case of over-promising and vastly under-delivering. The vaccine was supposed to end everything by July, and then it didn’t. Now we’re in the land of unending booster shots, continued fear over the omicron variant coupled with a general sense that the government and public health bureaucracy doesn’t know how to end this or doesn’t want to.
As far as public safety goes, Biden is getting low marks as violent crime spikes around the country with major urban areas seeing record murder rates:
Biden’s approval rating slid in his handling of gun violence and crime, as the United States has experienced a surge in gun-related violence and deaths this year, including a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan on Nov. 30 that left four dead and several injured. Biden faced a seven-percentage point drop in his handling of both issues since October.
Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of gun violence, while 32% approve, the ABC News/Ipsos poll found, and only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of crime while 61% disapprove. Both approval numbers are the lowest Biden has seen since his took office.
The crime issue is a problem of leadership in the White House and cities nationwide, all run exclusively by elected Democrats. Cities from New York to Los Angeles have demonized the police, loosened their bail laws, and made it unlikely criminals will be caught or prosecuted for crimes like theft. As a result, more serious crimes like murder have also have gotten out of hand. It’s a mess and one that lays squarely at the feet of bad policies from the Democratic Party and Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
Finally, does the economy need an explanation? Biden’s policies have been to the point of looming disaster as Americans pay more for nearly every essential item from gas to toilet paper:
The poll found that 28% of Americans approved of Biden’s handling of inflation, while a majority of Americans, at 69%, disapproved.
Biden has also seen a drop in approval rates in his handling of the economic recovery, with 41% of Americans approving his handling in December, compared to 47% back in October. Disapproval rates of Biden’s handling of the economy jumped. Fifty-seven percent of Americans surveyed disapproved of his handling of the economy, compared to the 53% in October.
Biden has been a disaster on the economy and spending the country into oblivion has created an unsustainable inflationary rise that sees no quick end in sight. Week by week, Biden’s disapproval ticks up a few points at a time. The trend has been a steady erosion in public trust.
All-in-all, another bad poll for a White House that seriously needs to regroup and retool with a better strategy for 2022. The country depends on it.
