137
Why do you think Biden's approval is at 41 percent?
He's about where Trump was at this point in his presidency, and slightly ahead of where Jimmy Carter was. The only thing he's getting credit for is not being a white supremacist. How come? I don't agree with everything that he wants, but I don't blame him for a lot of things that aren't going well like gas prices or the supply chain. I certainly don't think a Republican president would be managing the government any better. He's kept a lot of his campaign pledges. He's avoided embarrassing the country on a daily basis with scandals or provoking nuclear war, which is a very low bar but something the previous President seemed incapable of doing. He has hired people who are actually qualified for their jobs. Incredible.
I think he would be able to get voting rights passed and his Build Back Better plan through if we didn't have Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate. She'd better get ready for a fucking primary challenge as her approval rating is higher among Republicans than it is among Democrats. Is his approval just par for the course in modern politics? Are people just fucking pissed off coming off the pandemic and the supply chain issues and looking to take it out on whoever's in power?
89% Upvoted
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level 1
· 20 hr. ago
YIMBY
Are people just fucking pissed off coming off the pandemic and the supply chain issues and looking to take it out on whoever's in power?
Pretty much.
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level 2
Or more accurately, the general perception as to the direction of the economy. Biden's popularity was tanking while jobs and incomes were rising, and before people started to feel much of a bite from inflation. But people didn't like the direction things were going.
41
level 2
· 18 hr. ago
United Nations
People are shortsighted. Gas prices will eventually return to $2-$3/gallon and when the supply chains fully unravel the prices of many goods will drop from competition working like it should again.
Meanwhile everyone will be able to enjoy the higher wages they've been able to demand if they've played this whole thing right, even when prices begin to fall again.
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level 1
· 19 hr. ago · edited 19 hr. ago
Alan Turing
inflation
obviously inflation
that's what people say their #1 issue is in the polls, across every demographic
people's real wages are going down
no two ways about it
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level 2
How much did his post-covid spending influence this? I know this sub was dragging the EU for smaller bounce back due to lower deficit spending, so the natural question is how much of this "transitory" inflation has been caused by that.
My praxx is about 1 percent.
7
level 1
· 20 hr. ago
Jane Jacobs
I don't see any President doing much better than 40% ever again, we partisan as fuck now.
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level 2
· 17 hr. ago
NATO
ever again
i mean in the current political paradigm sure, but there's no reason to think that the hyper-polarization of now will last until the end of time
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level 2
· 18 hr. ago
Mario Vargas Llosa
Biden was at over 50% before the Afghanistan mess.
I think that with current partisanship aproval ratings are locked at between 40% and 55%. But within that 15% they can vary, and inflation, real wages, and gas prices aren't helping
24
level 2
If the Republicans ever accidentally get a moderate Republican into office again, he'll average better than 50%.
But their preferred presidents are unacceptable to 60% of the public.
And any Democrat president may never do better than 40-45% again because (a) no matter who they are, they're literally Satan according to conservative media, and (b) some Democrats are way too big fucking whiners to say they like somebody on their own team for very long.
1
level 1
Because he refuses to push the “lower gas prices and stop inflation” button. /s but really that’s the reason.
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level 2
Pretty much. It’s all about perspective, take Ukraine for example. Everybody in the diplomatic community has come out on the side that Biden has handled NATO and humanitarian support incredibly well, but his polling is actually down on it because people look at it and still see an ongoing conflict, until it ends there’s a political catch-22 regardless of how deftly he’s actually handled it.
Nobody cares what steps have been taken or prevailing factors, they see milk costs twice what it used to and that guy is in charge so it’s his job to fix it. (Obviously a whole political party in constant obstruction doesn’t help but the American people at this point expect it so that doesn’t factor as much as you would think)
37
level 2
Buuuh Trump made Mexico pay for his wall and China pay for his tariffs..sleepy Joe can’t even make Putin pay off all of the student loans in the US
/s
I think you would be surprised if you actually said this in a far right or far left rally, you would get a roaring applause
7
level 2
Even if gas prices alone were to blame for his unpopularity, he would still, politically speaking, be responsible for it. You can't come into office and stop a major pipeline infrastructure project literally on the first day in office and expect no political blowback if gas prices rise.
His political decision was: I'll accept vulnerability on gas prices to gain with environmentalists/global warming constituencies. Was that the right decision from a "good of humanity" perspective? Maybe! Was it the right decision politically? Probably not.
-1
level 1
As has been true now and forever, it's the economy stupid.
Most people just want to live their lives and be left alone, especially in a nation like America where freedom is considered the foremost of all virtues. Whether you credit it to him or not, Trump did preside over some pretty boom years and ultimately Americans are going to remember that as well.
8
level 1
You see that’s the problem. You think most voters think anymore than “things are bad and you’re in charge therefore it’s your fault”
43
level 1
· 21 hr. ago
Person of Means Testing
He ran on the idea that COVID and partisanship were Trump's fault and that getting rid of Trump would fix them. Fundamentally, Biden represented a return to normal after the chaos of the Trump administration. However, we're now a year later and America is as partisan as ever and stopping COVID turned out to require more sacrifice than a lot of people were willing to make.
Democrat infighting hasn't helped the situation, but fundamentally Biden's approval rating is low because he sold a message he wasn't able to deliver on.
37
level 2
· 17 hr. ago
r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion
Isn't covid basically gone ? The pandemic feels essentially over at this point.
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level 2
level 1
· 21 hr. ago
IMF
Stock market is down by 14% so far this year, inflation is at 8%, and GDP growth was negative in the first quarter.
Historically, numbers like those don't usually coincide with high presidential approval ratings.
36
level 2
I think Dems are behind the times on market performance. They still think it’s only rich people who care, meanwhile with so many people invested in 401ks, market performance has a tangible impact on the economy - people spend when they feel rich and they feel rich when number go up
25
level 2
You have some sort of empirical study about that? I would be interested in checking that out. I think the stock market seems to me atleast to be such a nothing burger to the average voter.
0
level 1
· 17 hr. ago
Austan Goolsbee
-Our political environment is incredibly polarized, I bet approval in the 40's will be the norm in the near future. Far too many people still don't believe the 2020 election was legitimate (which is terrifying).
-Inflation - while not completely Biden's fault, he also doesn't have a great plan to try to get a handle on it. Tariffs and student-loan forgiveness will make this problem worse.
-I think the in-fighting with Build Back Better really hurt the Dems image, making them appear just as inept as the GOP in terms of passing legislation. The GOP struggled to pass anything outside of a tax cut when Trump was in office, and I bet voters are annoyed to see the Dems struggle to do anything.
-Crime seems to be going up pretty much everywhere. Again, not Biden's fault at all, but it plays into the optics that many people feel quality of life is getting worse. And the "Defund the Police" slogan that hurt the Dems in 2020 will likely come back to haunt them in 2022.
All of these things would still be problems if Trump won re-election. There would still be inflation, polarization, high crime, and legislative ineptitude. In fact, I'd argue that Trump's approval would be even lower.
6
level 1
· 18 hr. ago
Jerome Powell
Inflation.
People in general don’t know or don’t care about nuance in the economy. Things get more expensive == President bad.
16
level 1
I think it's because 41% of us are still unwilling to say that they don't like what he's doing, because we know that we'd like the alternative even less. Seriously, "let's fight inflation by extending tariffs and handing a big wad of cash to college graduates". Good fucking God.
14
level 1
All modern Presidents’ approval ratings hover in the low 40s until there is an election coming up. It literally has nothing to do with any policy or executive action. It’s just the nature of our current partisan political climate.
42
level 2
I was surprised to read Reagan was down to 35 percent at one point during his first 1000 days.
21
level 2
This is the only correct answer. It isn't inflation, or covid, or the economy, or afghanistan, or whatever other dumbfucking thing the other people on here are moaning about. Modern partisanship demands it. Presidents typically have a honeymoon period of high ratings right when they get into office. Then they bottom out. Then they have bad midterms. Then they get reelected. Trump had comparable slightly worse ratings and almost won reelection. American always backlash against the current government and yet usually reelect their presidents. Hyperpolarized modern partisanship is only going to make things stickier and less swingy.
This has happened like 20 times in the past hundred years. I know people on here are all iamverysmart college freshman by how fucking ignorant they are of American political history.
1
level 1
Any real answer would be downvoted into oblivion, I'm here for the copium.
22
level 1
Idk much about American polling but 41% approval doesn't mean 59% of the population actively dislike him, I'm sure there is a category of "meh" people that just don't have an opinion.
13
level 1
He's talking about restricting foreign steel use in infrastructure projects when inflation is rising rapidly, increasing tariffs on Canadian lumber when there's a severe lack of housing, and his big plan to combat inflation is to forgive student debt.
Why the fuck wouldn't his approval be in the shitter?
17
level 2
You're acting as if regular people have even heard of these things. I know I hadn't until you mentioned them
18
level 2
The average person has no idea about those specific policies. They just think inflation up, gas up, president bad
1
level 2
level 1
· 18 hr. ago
Henry George
What we need is a proper Article 5 war. Wars are always good for presidents because we can see the jets and tanks funded by our taxpayer dollars in use. It wouldn't work as well, obviously, if the strongest military on earth is fighting insurgencies.
Or y'know, do something about inflation.
3
level 1
· 22 hr. ago
Microwaves over Moscow
Social media and people being increasingly stupid since the pandemic
20
level 1
· 15 hr. ago
r/place '22: E_S_S Battalion
Highly polarized environment and inflation. That's pretty much it.
2
level 1
Covid is part of it from all sides. We have people mad that he dragged our mask mandates and other restrictions too long and people who think they should still be going on and made stronger. You could see his rating really started dropping as the Delta varent cases were rising.
Slow vaccine rollout for kids under 5 does not help. Sure the group that actually plans to vax their kids under 5 is small, but probably over represented in polling.
2
level 1
Biden got elected to make things normal Things are far from normal, aka Biden is dialing at his mandate
2
level 1
· 10 hr. ago
Greg Mankiw
Probably because he hasn't lowered tariffs, increased immigration, deregulated housing, and enacted a land value tax yet
2
level 1
He's avoided embarrassing the country on a daily basis with scandals or provoking nuclear war
He caused an international incident a few weeks ago by getting a little too excited during a speech and calling for regime change in Russia. That was probably the closest that humanity has ever been to nuclear annihilation.
Not that anyone actually cares about that. The real reason that his approval rating is so crap is that everything's going to shit, there's war in Europe, everything is too expensive, he's offered essentially nothing to try to do anything about any of it, and he has done nothing to even try to stop an increasingly aggressive and emboldened assault by the Republican party on reproductive and queer rights.
Turns out that "nothing will fundamentally change" is a pretty bad platform to run on during a historical moment where a lot of things are falling apart and the only way out is to make a lot of changes very quickly.
2
level 1
Inflation > COVID is still a things > Afghanistan (probably helped the initial drop though).
Ukraine is weird cause Biden is doing it perfectly but the "act crazy on the subway so no one provokes" theory of foreign relations makes people think Putin wouldn't have tried to invade if Trump was in office. They are wrong but counterfactuals...
2
level 1
· 21 hr. ago
John Keynes
Demsocs are mad because he’s not passing his major progressive reforms because of the senate, so they’re refusing to help elect senators that would allow him to pass his major progressive reforms. 200 iq.
6
level 1
· 13 hr. ago
Ben Bernanke
Republicans dislike him because he's a Democrat
Young people dislike him because vibes
Swing voters dislike him because inflation and gas prices
3
level 1
I think both parties have a floor of around 38–42 percent that will approve of their current guy in office no matter what.
Biden’s fall in approval has probably been two-fold. One part of it is everyone who’s flabbergasted that the President of the U.S. cannot unilaterally raise the federal minimum wage, cancel all student debt, etc.
The other part are true independents who aren’t really plugged into the political conversation and are simply mad they have to pay more for their dinner at their favorite chain restaurant.
3
level 2
Op · 21 hr. ago · edited 21 hr. ago
level 1
· 19 hr. ago
John Keynes
Afghanistan sunk him, high inflation, and a general sense that he declared victory on COVID too early.
Factional in-fighting between groups within the Democratic coalition doesn’t help either.
He just needs to cancel some student debt (targeted 10k would be good), pass some sort of BBB bill, and legalize marijuana and we’ll be back to 46% - 48% by the midterms.
Let Trump come back on the scene, and we’ll start seeing 60% by re-election time.
3
level 1
· 18 hr. ago
IMF
Cost of living (esp. gas prices)
Which he has limited control over, but people still hold him accountable .
2
level 1
Bad vibes and I’m being serious. Post pandemic were all grumpy and tired and it’s being taken out on the guy in charge 🤷🏻♂️
4
level 1
It’ll be one of those presidencies that will be appreciated long after he leaves office. People forget Biden got a historic infrastructure bill passed not seen since Eisenhower, he oversaw the successful confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, first public defender and black woman, to the U.S. supreme court. He bolstered CTC which helped cut child poverty by a significant amount, which may have paved the way for a renewed bolstered version of it someday(Mitt Romney has always been interested in passing some version of it).
Biden has opted for an all-of-the-above approach to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, imposing severe economic costs on Russia in coordination with NATO(weaning of NATO of Russian Oil, NATO increasing defense spending) providing billions of dollars of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, attempting to lure the best and brightest of Russian scientists and engineers into our country so as to exasperate the brain drainage already happening in Russia, and pretty much channeling our anger about the whole situation in positive ways.
Of course, none of this will matter to the voter, because suburban moms and dads go to the grocery store and see the price increases, but from a legacy standpoint, I think Biden will be remembered positively if he decides to leave office in 2024 with the economy in a better shape.
2
level 1
· 21 hr. ago
NATO
The fact that inflation and prices of goods are at record highs (Granted it's not just Biden's fault as Trump also spent a shit ton on the pandemic) but he continued spending on the pandemic afterwards and signed several pointless infrastructure bills that will most likely go back into his and his buddies' pockets. Meanwhile gas prices are as high as ever because of the fact that he has restricted oil development on public lands while mumbling complete nonsense about how we need to switch to electric cars or whatever. Sure, we can have that in the future, but we have problems NOW in the current moment that need solving.
Meanwhile he embarrasses the country on a daily basis by having barely any self-control or filter and saying whatever he feels like saying or just getting lost in his own words and mumbling out some complete nonsense (I.E the "Cornpop" story or "You ain't Black). Oh yeah and did I mention the hair-sniffing of little kids?
Then there was the Afghanistan pullout where thousands of interpreters, contractors, Afghani officials, and soldiers were left to suffer and die as he wanted a hasty political victory and to "epically own Trump".
r/neoliberal users, please stop lying to yourselves. He isn't the savior of neoliberalism (He's just as big of a protectionist as Trump and spouts the exact same rhetoric) and since the Ukraine war which temporarily boosted his popularity is now going into the background, his ratings will start dipping again as we realize that he cannot hold control of his own country. If Russia wins, then people's opinion of him will sour and think that he's weak on Russia, and if Ukraine beats Russia, people will stop focusing on the war and go back to remembering how awful Biden is.
-4
level 2
Oh yeah and did I mention the hair-sniffing of little kids?
You had to accuse of him of being pedophile, huh?
10
level 2
· 17 hr. ago
NATO
Infrastructure investment is necessary to increase the productive capacity of the US. Not fixing bridges is false savings
4
level 1
· 20 hr. ago
NATO
I think we're just in a permanent situation where the opposing party + all independents don't like whoever the current resident is.
0
level 1
· 19 hr. ago
SEATO
Imagine if we didn't even have a presidential figure that voters could lazily misattribute gas prices to.
1
level 1
Americans always blame the president foe the economy even if they have almost nothing to do with it
1
level 1
· 16 hr. ago · edited 16 hr. ago
For decades, the most popular news channel in the country has been priming its viewers to blame and despise Democrats with increasingly extreme rhetoric. Even the most sane Republican politicians have generally welcomed and participated in this, because it benefits them so much. This environment created a race to the bottom for every current and aspiring right-wing politician, cultural figure, and talking head to do and say more and more outrageous things in order to win a spot in the media limelight for the clout and donations.
Because of this, it practically does not matter what Biden does, because the right is so incentivized to misinterpret or lie about Democrats. Sure, sometimes a leftist or Dem does something that looks especially crazy when there are photos and videos the right can show without context, and they have a field day. But even when there is nothing for them to be mad about, they just make things up. If Biden were planning to make trade schools and community colleges free, they would spin it into Biden giving handouts to both liberal elites and lazy degenerates. Just one example was the “death panel” bullshit that did so much damage to Obamacare.
Where this particularly differs from Dems/more left-wing media is that the whole GOP apparatus is usually on board to run with the messaging, even when it’s a lie. Even most “mavericks” have found how easy it is to stick to whatever messaging Fox News is spouting at the time. In more centrist or left media, it’s much more commonplace (and even sought out) to produce a good number of stories that validate or sanewash the other side (think of the unending attempts at “we talked to Trump voters in a rural diner, and while they said some racist things, we discovered that they just have economic anxiety” or “Trump is finally sounding Presidential!” stories).
Every new Fox storyline is in some way tied into the existing themes. This makes even complete falsified nonsense feel accurate because it’s a retelling of the same general story. It’s kind of like how within a literature or film genre, there will be specific tropes, subtext, or characters that crop up in each new story. Storytellers can save a lot of time by using tropes to show the audience/reader what kind of story this is going to be. All Fox needs to do is say a few key buzzwords and it immediately establishes a familiar framework that guides viewers to think a certain way about that news story.
1
level 1
Republicans disapprove automatically.
conservative leaning independents disapprove because of inflation and them crazy transgenders on the TikkyTokky.
Progressives disapprove because he hasn't been able to deliver on parts of his platform that they wanted most.
0
level 1
Because people no longer know what they want from their president. I don't think it's more complicated than that.
0
level 1
A lot of people assumed things would go back to normal (see: Obama era) as soon as trump left. Issue is, the pandemic wasn't/isn't fully over, and the amount of stimulus was too high leading to an issue where inflation is getting a bit out of hand and people want more 2012 vibes than humanly possible. I think Biden has made some poor decisions, some great decisions but ultimately is getting screwed by factors outside of his control
0
level 1
· 17 hr. ago
r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion
You are overestimating people too much. The average voter is super ignorant and short sighted. Most people don't even know what a supply chain is. They don't know anything about economics. All they know is inflation is up, so it must be Biden's fault.
-1
level 2
Mod
· 21 hr. ago
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1
level 1
Because voters are fickle? Who honestly knows though. I'm not sure I'd rely on any polling numbers anymore.
1
level 1
· 16 hr. ago
Adam Smith
We should start a concerted effort, we shan’t stop until it’s 69 percent
1
level 1
· 14 hr. ago
Thomas Paine
Because things are more expensive now. That's all that matters to most voters because that's the only thing that affects them.
1
level 1
Inflation is high, Conservatives think 10s of millions of illegal immigrants are crossing the border, no one can buy a house, and gas is too expensive for people who drive Trucks and SUVs.
1
level 1
the man can barely put three coherent sentences together, and his handlers keep putting him in front of the camera
-2
level 1
Perfect time to point out constant obstruction over renewable energy infrastructure.
-1
level 1
The people who would like his policies are either too stupid to see beyond high prices or so spoiled by promises made by people like Bernie Sanders that they don't seem very radical or cool.
0
level 1
Everyone here is saying inflation or housing prices, sure these are a huge part of it, but not everything. If you look at most items on the democratic agenda pre-election, there is really no significant action on most items.
Where are the immigration reforms, DACA citizenship path, etc (this is important to many voters of recent immigrant origins, not just hispanics)
Where are the efforts on reducing black people being murdered by the police, (important to black voters and their allies)
Some action on the green economy front, but way too little, instead, the focus seems to be on trying to prop Ford/GM on the account of the Tesla . They should be doing way more to encourage solar manufacturing in the US (creating jobs) esp in the areas where economy is dependent on fossil fuel. Ossof had a plan to give US solar panel manufacturers heavy tax credits, but no action on that since 2021
I think everyone got caught in the idea of supporting Ukraine, which is great but I think a much stronger stance from Biden pre-war could have made Putin not proceed in the first place. I think 3 American aircraft carriers moving close by and threat of a no fly zone could have been enough. personally I wouldn't be surprised that Biden intentionally acted weak to drag Putin into starting the war then pummel him through the Ukrainians. which may be smart but unethical to say the least.
Biden should have focused much more on getting the democratic house in order, reigning in the far-left negotiating first with the Dems on what are the achievable goals and having everyone on board with a unified plan before presenting to republican.
absolutely no action fixing the health care system, it would have been a perfect time to argue why a sort of universal coverage should be essential.
For a president whose platform really was all about unity, he is failing miserably, he had a golden opportunity to cross the isle by nominating Michelle Childs to the supreme, who was pretty much pre-approved by the republican old guard. instead he picked Brown, which pissed of the republicans. nothing about the candidate themselves, but really it was a wasted chance to make amends and show the republican old guard that co-operation between the "establishment types" on both sides could help ward off the extremes.
So I don't blame Biden for the housing market, gas prices, or inflation, at least not more than most other politicians in general. but I think Biden could have done much, much better by now.
0
level 1
· 12 hr. ago
George Soros
Biden promised he would "build back better"
Building back better is just widening more roads. It's ARRA 2.0
We're going to do it again in 10 years.
It's not the investment we were all hoping for to combat climate change. It's just tripling down on sprawl.
0
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The horseshoe theory at work. The 8 lawmakers who voted against a bill urging the U.S. to seize the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs and use the proceeds to help Ukraine:
Cawthorn R-NC Greene R-GA Massie R-KY Roy R-TX Bush D-MO Ocasio-Cortez D-NY Omar D-MN Tlaib D-MI
https://twitter.com/george_a_callas/status/1519513711710556160?s=21&t=CoXBKu_jm5foipzs3Pqpqw
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