The recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll touted excitedly by Democrats last week as evidence of a potential Biden comeback is looking more and more like an outlier. We walked through the bruising numbers from the latest Wall Street Journal survey on Friday, which quite emphatically did not paint a picture of a presidency regaining its footing. What is the overall trend showing?
Let's look at fresh numbers from CBS News for more clues:
New CBS poll, Biden job approval 43-56. RCP average of post-SOTU polls -- maybe an itty-bitty bounce, maybe over now... https://t.co/5FuKMopwIL pic.twitter.com/QA7BWaZYHY
— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 13, 2022
Biden's 43 percent overall approval is unchanged since last month. He's been at 44 percent or worse in this series since November. Nearly as many Americans strongly disapprove of Biden's job performance (39 percent) as approve overall (strongly plus somewhat). Among independents, the president is deep underwater (36/64). Thirty percent of Americans think things are going well in the United States right now, versus 69 percent who say things are going badly. With the economy and inflation at the forefront of voters' minds, it appears as though the White House will need to do a lot more than blame Putin for rising prices:
Biden -24 on the economy, per CBS pic.twitter.com/Tbg4CRL7qy
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 13, 2022
Note that the right track/wrong track numbers (30/69) are nearly identical to Biden's standing on inflation (31/69). That's not a coincidence. It's more of the same in brand new ABC News polling, as well:
Over the past several months, Americans' wallets have been hit by skyrocketing inflation, and now, Biden is feeling that crunch in his approval numbers. Seventy percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of inflation...The White House faces similarly concerning numbers related to economic recovery, with 58% disapproving, a 12-month high, per the ABC News/Ipsos poll...According to ABC News/Ipsos data, 70% of Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of gas prices.
On inflation specifically, Biden earns a terrible (29/70) rating in this data set. Looks familiar, doesn't it? This has been a chronic and growing problem for a year, which is why various talking points have failed and are failing. Rising prices were not temporary or transitory. And they're not going to be easily pinned on Russia, considering how people obviously understand that the underlying phenomenon long predates the crisis in Ukraine. Good luck with this:
Biden: "Make no mistake inflation is largely the fault of Putin." pic.twitter.com/XzL3OswfLH
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 11, 2022
This, right here, is Biden's problem:
ABC's Jonathan Karl: "If you look at the numbers, inflation really started to rise almost exactly when Biden came in the White House." pic.twitter.com/IMOyblgoC3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 13, 2022
I'll leave you with Nancy Pelosi spouting nonsense. All those trillions in new federal spending (recall that nearly every Congressional Democrat supports spending an additional $5 trillion!) have nothing to do with inflation, she explains. In fact, they're reducing the national debt (totally false), or something:
.@SpeakerPelosi: "When we're having this discussion, it's important to dispel some of those who say, well it's the government spending. No, it isn't. The government spending is doing the exact reverse, reducing the national debt. It is not inflationary." pic.twitter.com/6HKE5gX2SP
— The Hill (@thehill) March 12, 2022
