by Bethany Blankley
President Joe Biden’s approval rating has fallen to 42%, according to a new NBC News poll; his disapproval rating hit 54%, up 6 points from August.
The majority polled, 71%, including nearly half of registered Democrats, say the country is headed in the wrong direction. Republicans and Independents say the country is headed in the wrong direction, 93% and 70%, respectively, with 48% of Democrats saying the same.
The majority polled, 53%, said they believed that America’s best years are in the past, signifying a lack of hope for the future.
“The numbers – just one year before the midterm elections – are sounding alarms for Democrats as they trail Republicans on the economy, inflation, and immigration, and have even lost ground on tried-and-true Democrat issues like education and the Coronavirus,” NBC News reports.
Forty percent of those polled approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, down 7 points since August; 51% approve of his handling of the Coronavirus, down 2 points since August.
Only 37% polled said Biden was competent and effective as president; 28% said he was doing a good job at uniting the country.
Half polled, 50%, gave Biden low scores for competency; 51% for his ability to unite the country.
“What people voted for was stability and calm, and what they got was instability and chaos,” NBC’s Democratic pollster Peter Hart said of the findings.
When asked if Democrats or Republicans were better at handling certain issues, respondents gave Republicans a double-digit advantage on several issues: border security (by 27 points), inflation (24 points), crime (22 points), national security (21 points), the economy (18 points) and being effective and getting things done (13 points).
Democrats held double-digit advantages on abortion (by 10 points), the Coronavirus (12 points) and climate change (24 points).
Biden’s approval rating dropped 7 points since August, according to the poll.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 23 and 26 among 1,000 adults, including 820 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates and Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies conducted the survey.
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Joe Biden” by The White House.
