Washington: Biden’s approval rating shoots up to over 40. US President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have surpassed 40 per cent since June this year following a series of successes with his executive order on abortion rights; historic passage of the climate change; healthcare and inflation reduction bills in Congress; and his cancelling of student loans in a massive debt forgiveness programme.
Biden, who inherited a battered legacy from his predecessor Donald Trump battling a post-Covid economy, joblessness, high inflation, threats of a recession, has bolstered his image with his recent successes with the inflation reduction act, capping drug prices for the poor, better healthcare package for the urban middle class from insurers, upholding women’s abortion rights, and doing his best to write off as much of the $1.7 trillion debt incurred by 45 million students.
The President’s new high ratings woke up Americans on Wednesday morning from their slumber as his image went up, though not fully, but in a small measure, as he decided to cancel loans of students of up to $10,000 for families with incomes below $1,50,000 in keeping with his election pledge to waive the debt before August 31.
His actions on restrictions on gun laws to keep citizens secure against trigger happy mass killers, the raid on Trump’s Florida residence and his string of successes in the blue states with Trump backed candidates losing to challengers in the primaries in the blue states boosting democrats chances has shown him of as being decisive and strong.
Biden’s ratings, which plummeted to a historic low of 33 per cent for any presidency in the first year, shot up to 40 per cent and among the democrats to a high of 78 per cent.
All this makes his chances to seek a better second term in the 2024 presidential run if he manages to prove pollsters wrong and retains both the Senate and the House in the November midterms.
The Democrats and Republicans are equally divided in the 100-member House often depending on Vice President Kamala Harris to provide the tie breaker and a wafer-thin majority in the 435-member House of Representatives.
Biden is no newcomer to politics as he has over 45 years of legislative experience and has sat on many of the important senate committees as a democrat politician. His personal tragedies in life like losing his first wife and daughter in an accident also make him a sympathetic politician to the American people.
The hearings and devastating testimonies against Trump over the 2021 Capitol riot, raid and seizure of classified documents from his Florida residence leading to prospects of the former President being booked under the Espionage Act and bold legislative measures on climate change, healthcare and CHIPs legislation to reduce imports from China and make them at home creating more job ops have won the support of the Americans.
They thought he was old at 78 and unable to govern strongly. And his chances of a re-run in 2024 were rated slim and dim as he would be 81 years.
US News says a new poll shows Biden’s approval at 41 per cent following a series of legislative wins by the Democrat-controlled Congress. The President is slowly earning back Americans’ trust after a series of legislative wins by the Democrat-controlled Congress boosted his party’s enthusiasm.
The new rating is the highest he’s seen since early June.
But Newsweek feels that a 41 per cent rating was still far from his chances of retaining Congress which could be a close battle between the two parties as Republicans still rally around a beleaguered Trump.
The President still has a long way to go toward convincing the nation that he deserves another term in the White House, but the new poll is a promising sign for his administration and for members of the Democratic Party, who were at risk of losing their majority in the House and Senate in the November midterms.
Biden began his presidency on a high note, but as the pandemic dragged on and inflation began to drain Americans’ bank accounts, he became the face of the flailing economy.
Other issues, such as baby formula shortages, added to the public’s dissatisfaction.
US sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine led to supply chain problems, effects of which are now slowly tapering off, with gas prices coming down with tax breaks though food prices and home rents are still high. Groceries and home rents have shot up by 38 per cent since Biden’s presidency. But he has added more jobs in the last quarter June to August than Trump or even Clinton with more than 60,000 jobs a month.
Last month, a New York Times/Siena College poll revealed that only 1 in 3 Americans approved of Biden’s performance, echoing Trump’s low point and sending a warning sign to the White House that Biden was in danger of following Trump’s one-term track.
With gas prices however now receding to below $4 per gallon as during pre pandemic times, bills like the PACT Act and Inflation Reduction Act finally moving through Congress, and a decision on student debt cancellation, Biden has followed through on some of his campaign promises and demonstrated an ability to get Congress in line with his values.
The question now is if he can keep up his momentum and lead the Democrats to victory this November, or if his moment of glory will fade. With a majority of Democrats looking for a new candidate to take over the 2024 presidential ticket, his stakes couldn’t be higher.
Chances of Harris riding on a Biden ticket for 2024 presidency among others seems to fade now even though she has a considerable war chest from very affluent families in New York including the Gettys and Apple founder Steve Jobs’ widow.
And Trump’s chances of a rerun in two years from now also appear to be questionable with most of the powerful Republican donors and funders seemingly wanting a better candidate to bet on.
His closest running rival is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a 38 per cent rating closely following Trump, but he too is plagued by the Democrats’ firestorm on his move to disenfranchise a certain section of voters, most of whom are blacks and Democratic voters.
