The 46th president of the United States is turning into the incredibly shrinking president after just ten months in office. If Joe Biden were to run again, which seems unlikely, he wouldn’t have a chance. However, since there are more than three years left of the Biden administration, the operative question becomes: Does the U.S. have a chance of surviving the next three years with a staggeringly unpopular man in the Oval Office? But the lack of Mr. Biden’s popularity with voters is not even the real issue. His principal problem seems to be that Americans do not think he is running the show.
Shades of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
(Photo by Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
While some made the case that Ronald Reagan suffered from memory issues and wasn’t up to the job during his second term, one needs to go back to the Wilson administration to find a similar situation to Biden’s. In 1919, Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that incapacitated him. It has been argued – even to this day – that while the president was unable to function early in his recovery, his wife, Edith, ran the country.
While no one is suggesting Jill Biden is running the show, a new poll published by Rasmussen Reports does crystallize the problem. According to Rasmussen, only 27% of respondents “are very confident that Biden is physically and mentally up to the job of being President of the United States.” Fourteen percent say they are “somewhat confident in Biden’s capability, while 8% are not very confident,” and a whopping 50% say they are not confident at all.
Worse still, 53% of voters polled “now believe others are making decisions for Biden behind the scenes, while just 38% think Biden is really doing the job of president.” Despite numerous recent televised addresses when the president trots out to read a script on the teleprompter, he has not taken questions at a live press conference since July.
Digging into the political demographics, one quickly surmises that things are not favorable for the oldest man ever to be elected president. Rasmussen Reports, “20% of Democrats and 56% of unaffiliated voters are not at all confident in Biden’s ability to perform his presidential duties.”
Meanwhile, presidential approval for the life-long Democrat is sinking as if it were one of the top maritime disasters of all time. Here is the latest from RealClear Politics:
Politico/Morning Consult Approve 45 Disapprove 52
Economist/YouGov Approve 45 Disapprove 48
Grinnell/Selzer Approve 37 Disapprove 50
Rasmussen Approve 41 Disapprove 58
Quinnipiac Approve 40 Disapprove 51
As a point of reference, former President Trump logged a 43% approval rating on Oct. 20, 2017, while Biden stands at 41% for this same date in 2021.
When it comes to the issues, Biden’s numbers are abysmal: 62% of those polled by Morning Consult/Politico say, “President Biden is somewhat or very responsible for increasing inflation,” according to the New York Post. An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in September shows the president taking a deep dive on key issues: 38% approve of his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, 38% on gun violence, and only 33% agreed that he is doing a respectable job regarding immigration and border issues.
With such a dismal showing in so many polls, one wonders if and for how long Joe Biden will be able to retain the presidency.
~ Read more from Leesa K. Donner.
