NBC News Poll: Biden Approval Hits Lowest Level of His Presidency Over Handling of Ukraine, Economy

Was the Associated Press poll from last week that found 7 in 10 Americans soured on the economy an outlier? It would appear not, since NBC News just put out new Biden poll numbers on Sunday that skunk even the AP results. The issue is the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, which Americans seem to think Biden is mismanaging on the world stage, and the ongoing issues of the economy and gas prices to boot!

So much for that State of the Union reset, huh? What happened to the lofty goals of Build Back Better that was set to unleash the economy by, uh, unleashing federal spending to monstrous levels?

Well, it’s all at the wayside right now with Democrats watching Biden drive the clown car over the cliff taking the country with him:

Amid Europe’s largest land war since World War II, 7 in 10 Americans expressed low confidence in President Joe Biden’s ability to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a new NBC News poll, and 8 in 10 voiced worry that the war will increase gas prices and possibly involve nuclear weapons.

And during the nation’s largest inflation spike in 40 years, overwhelming majorities said they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and disapproved of the president’s handling of the economy.

Those are some of the major findings of the new national NBC News poll, which found that Biden’s overall job approval rating had declined to 40 percent, the lowest level of his presidency. The survey also found that Republicans enjoyed a 2-point lead in answering which party should control Congress ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Whoever wrote those three paragraphs for NBC News must have drawn the short straw since the numbers are so ugly, it’s surprising they even bothered reporting them. Perhaps it’s being done as a favor to try and warn the White House that whatever they’re doing isn’t working and it’s bound to take down Democrats in Congress along the way.

Whatever the case, NBC found gruesome approval numbers for Biden hitting the lowest point in his presidency at a mere forty percent, inching close to the thirties:

The erosion in Biden’s approval rating has been across the board among key demographic groups, including Black respondents (from 64 percent approve in January to 62 percent now), women (from 51 percent approve to 44 percent), Latinos (from 48 percent to 39 percent) and independents (36 percent to 32 percent).

“You cannot get down to the low 40s in presidential approval unless you have strained your own base,” said McInturff, the GOP pollster.

That would generally be correct, Biden can’t be hitting the low forties without being in the process of torching support from his own party. If he hits the thirties, the alarm bells will really be going off in the West Wing.

Then again, if they aren’t worried right now, or don’t seem to be capable of changing course, what will a 38% approval rating next month from an NBC News poll really do to move the needle? Probably not much.

The largest challenge for Biden, and one that he continues to downplay and ignore, is inflating driving up the cost of living across the board:

Approval of Biden’s handling of the economy is declining as the cost of living has jumped to become Americans’ most important issue in the poll, displacing jobs and the economy, voting rights/election integrity and the coronavirus, which all topped January’s survey.

Sixty-two percent of respondents said their family incomes are falling behind the cost of living, 31 percent said they’re staying even, and 6 percent said their incomes are going up faster than the cost of living.

Americans will put up with a lot, especially Biden voters themselves until they discover that the policies they voted for mean they can’t afford to put gas in their car or food on their table.

This graphic perfectly illustrates what’s happening today with data all the way back to 1996 for perspective:

Biden’s presidency can only be summed up as a malaise-inducing mess for the country. The leadership is vapid and the people in charge of running various cabinet positions and departments are inexperienced social justice warriors consumed with wokeness.

How’s Pete Buttigieg’s war against racist bridges coming along? Seriously, this has been the focus of the people in charge which is why the economy is in chaos.

Now, drive this chaotic economy into a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the chaos triples overnight. Gas prices soar because Biden is opposed to domestic energy production. Food prices soar because the economy still hasn’t recovered from Biden’s stupid war on business with vaccine mandates and garbage Covid-19 policies that killed production. The supply chain remains screwed up because Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is so far over his head, he basically gave up trying to sound competent.

What about Biden’s rousing NATO speech in Poland last week? The one where he stated support for regime change in Russia and escalated tensions in eastern Europe? Yeah, not so good either.

Biden continues to lurch from one bad policy and bad speech to another offering no confidence to voters that anyone in charge knows how to handle the difficulties posed to a post-Covid America. There’s a new Covid-19 variant lurking globally, however, but it seems unlikely the American media or the White House will focus on it again since they risk hurting Biden’s already terrible economy. Remember, Covid officially ended the day before Biden’s State of the Union so he could say it ended.

After Covid, the boogeyman for the economy became Russia. If that issue settles down, maybe Biden will need Covid again as a punching bag for his failing economic policies.

I’ll leave you with this, the most accurate portrayal of what’s happening in the country since Biden’s inauguration courtesy of Chris Rock and Will Smith:


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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