VP Kamala Harris & President Joe Biden - PHOTO BY BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval rating this month fell to its lowest level in almost two years, tying the lowest reading of his presidency in a warning sign for his reelection effort, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
The four-day poll, which closed on Monday, showed just 36% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance as president, down from 38% in April. It was a return to the lowest approval rating of his presidency, last seen in July 2022. While this month’s drop was within the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error, it could bode poorly for Biden as he faces off with Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Biden, a Democrat, has been largely tied with Trump in national polls asking voters how they will vote. But Trump has had slight leads over Biden in many polls in the states seen as most likely to determine the winner in the U.S. Electoral College.
The poll laid out Biden’s weaknesses as well as a few strengths. The state of the economy was seen as the top issue, picked by 23% of respondents as the most important problem facing the country. Some 21% saw political extremism as the top issue and 13% picked immigration.
Some 40% of respondents in the poll said Trump, who was president from 2017 to 2021, had better policies for the U.S. economy, compared to 30% who picked Biden, while the rest said they didn’t know or didn’t answer the question.
Trump had a significant edge on immigration, with 42% of respondents preferring his approach to the issue, while 25% picked Biden.
Respondents said they thought Trump had the better approach to foreign conflicts and terrorism, with 36% favoring Trump in that area, compared with 29% who favored Biden.
The state of the U.S. economy looms as one of the larger factors weighing on Biden’s hopes of reelection. Voters have been stung by several years of fast-rising consumer prices, though inflation has slowed considerably in recent months and the jobless rate has been below 4% for more than two years. Biden’s age, at 81, is also a concern for voters.
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