(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden’s approval rating remains low as voters’ fears about inflation rise, surpassing their concerns about unemployment, COVID-19 and crime, according to the latest NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll.
The poll, released Thursday, determined 57% of voters disapprove of Joe Biden’s handling of his job. Forty-three percent approve of the president. Those results are on track with last month’s approval ratings, which reported 58% percent of Americans disapproved of Biden, compared to 42% who approved.
“Clearly Democrats are not really happy with President Biden,” said Niall Stanage, a White House columnist with The Hill. “His approval ratings are low. He’s 79 years old. There is significant evidence that Democrats are worried about his capacity to really press their case in 2024.”
NewsNation/Decision Desks HQ’s results are in-line with other polls. Reuters/Ipsos recently reported a 37% approval rating for Biden.
The president’s declining approval comes as 94% of voters say they’re somewhat or very concerned with rising prices. More than 62% of voters ranked inflation chief atop their concerns facing the country, rising above their worries about unemployment, COVID-19 and crime.
“I think inflation is pretty clearly the single biggest problem that President Biden faces and that the Democrats face going into November’s election,” Stanage said. “His approval rating in this poll is pretty low, much the same as it was last month. But you look at the figures about inflation and they are really striking.”
Voters also expressed concerns about Biden’s health. The president tested positive for COVID-19 last week. He’s since improved enough to resume his regular exercise routine, according to an update Tuesday from his doctor.
More than 61% of voters are somewhat or very concerned about Biden’s health, according to NewsNation poll results. The remaining approximately 39% were not too concerned or not concerned at all.
“You can sort of imagine in the mind of some voters that those two things might, whether or not this is fair, be connected in some way,” said Decision Desk HQ’s Senior Data Analyst Kiel Williams. “That perhaps his mental fitness is impacting his ability to sort of address some of these problems, and how that might breed a disapproval of his job performance in ways that don’t necessarily even impact other Democrats.”
Voters were clear that they don’t want to see Biden run for re-election. More than 60% said he shouldn’t run again, while nearly 22% said he should. Another 17% were unsure.
The same is true for former President Donald Trump. About 57% of Americans said he should not seek re-election, according to the poll.
This NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll, completed this week by Decision Desk HQ, also revealed these key findings:
- 54% of voters say the recent Supreme Court decisions made them more likely to vote in the 2022 midterm election, compared to 7.17% who said they were less likely to vote. Thirty-eight percent weren’t swayed either way.
- The majority of voters, 27.52%, are more concerned with finding qualified teachers than accurately teaching the history of race is in the U.S. (19.31%) or giving parents a bigger say in school decisions (18.43%).
- More than 86% of Americans said crime was an important factor in determining who to vote for in the upcoming congressional election.
Decision Desk HQ conducted the research on behalf of NewsNation this week. The poll of more than 1,000 registered voters had a margin of error of about 3%.