Biden’s first year report card is strikingly similar to Trumps, who earned a failing grade from 35% of voters after his first year in office
If failing grades are a sign of ill-preparedness, President Joe Biden needs to hit the books as a devastating new poll showed more than a third of American voters grade his first year at the White House with an ‘F.’
The survey was conducted by Politico and Morning Consult and released on Wednesday, one day before the first anniversary of Biden’s inauguration.
Asked to give the president a report card for his first year running the country, the largest share of respondents — 37 percent — flunked him.
Twenty percent gave Biden a ‘B’ and 18 percent graded him a ‘C.’ The smallest share of people surveyed, 11 percent, gave him top marks.
In another blow, 52 percent of American surveyed say they view Biden as a ‘weak leader.’
A year full of crises — including a record number of migrants straining local infrastructure at the southern border, an increasingly aggressive Russia and out-of-control inflation that’s reached its highest point in 40 years — have served to weaken the 79-year-old president’s image despite him coming to power promising to restore the United States’ place in the world and heal political divisions.
They’re topics Biden will likely have to answer for at his highly-anticipated 4 p.m. press conference later this afternoon.
Forty-four percent of voters also believe Biden is handling the coronavirus pandemic poorly, with cases soaring and the Omicron variant forcing nationwide staffing shortages despite running on a campaign promise to ‘shut down’ the virus.
And despite marketing himself as the antithesis of Republican rival Donald Trump, their end-of-year report cards are strikingly similar.
More than one in every three Americans think Biden should flunk out of the White House
A majority of respondents also said he’s a weak leader, a devastating blow to his public image as the country grapples with multiple crises
After his first year in office, 35 percent of voters graded Trump with an ‘F’ — slightly less than the share failing Biden.
Trump also netted a higher concentration of ‘A’ and ‘B’ marks compared to Biden, while their ‘D’ grades were virtually the same.
Wednesday’s new poll also shows Americans’ growing concern that the president may just be incapable of performing his day-to-day tasks, one year after becoming the oldest person sworn into office.
Across multiple survey questions, more than 50 percent of voters have indicated they don’t think Biden is energetic, a clear communicator or in good health.
More than a third have expressed concern he’s not mentally fit or stable.
Perhaps more devastating is how many people are questioning whether Biden sticks to his word, despite years of building a forthright and honest public image.
Fifty-three percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat disagree that Biden keeps his promises.
Half of those surveyed claim to believe Biden doesn’t care about them compared to 41 percent who agreed when asked if he ‘cares about people like me’.
Biden’s unpopularity threatens to sink his party along with him, with the 2022 midterm elections less than a year away
Those low poll numbers, which have persisted throughout most of the year, appear to have ripple effects across the Democratic Party with months until the midterm elections deciding who has control of Congress during the last two years of Biden’s first term.
When asked whether the president ‘encourages the more extreme elements in the Democratic Party,’ 42 percent of voters somewhat or strongly agreed while 37 percent said he does not.
It’s not clear if Biden’s push to the left will completely alienate voters. So far a hypothetical match-up in November shows Democrats and Republicans at a near-tie with the GOP just barely eking out on top.
If the midterms were held today, a GOP candidate would snag 42 percent of the vote while a Democratic candidate scores 41 percentage points, according to Politico’s poll.
People surveyed also said they trust Republicans more than Democrats to legislate on topics including gun policy, the economy, jobs, national security and immigration.
Democrats were favored to handle issues of education, climate change, energy and voting rights, among others.