President Joe Biden's approval rating has fallen further and now stands at just 39 percent, according to a new poll published on Monday, as Americans continue to express concerns about inflation.
The president's job performance, and in particular voters' views on how he's handling the economy, is likely to be a major feature of the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans are aiming to retake the House of Representatives and the Senate. If they can take just one chamber of Congress, the GOP could effectively stymie Biden's agenda for the two years leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
An Investors Business Daily/TIPP poll found that the president's approval had fallen again and was approaching his previous record low of 38 percent set in February.
The IBD/TIPP survey found that 39 percent of U.S. adults approved of Biden's job performance, while 47 percent disapproved, though there was a stark partisan divide.
Among Democrats, 76 percent approved of Biden's handling of the presidency compared to just 12 percent who disapproved—unchanged since the April poll—but Republicans disapproved of Biden by 84 percent to 9 percent.
Independent voters may prove crucial to the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections and the IBD/TIPP poll found that Biden is struggling with that key voting group.
In May, 58 percent of independents disapproved of the job the president is doing, compared to 27 percent who approved. That represents a decline since April, when the IBD/TIPP poll found that 51 percent of independents disapproved of Biden and 29 percent approved.
The poll was conducted from May 4 to 6 among 1,320 adults and has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percent.
In IBD/TIPP's April poll, Biden's disapproval stood at 43 percent, while 42 percent of respondents approved of the job the president was doing. In February, Biden's approval fell to a low of 38 percent, with 48 percent disapproving.
One particular problem for Biden and the Democrats heading into the midterms may be voters' perceptions of the economy amid high inflation and a decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2022.
May's IBD/TIPP poll found 47 percent of respondents disapproved of Biden's handling of the economy and just 29 percent approved. That's a decline since the same poll in April showed disapproval at 44 percent and approval at 33 percent.
The survey also asked respondents whether their wages had kept up with inflation and just 18 percent said that they had compared to 51 percent who said wages had not kept pace with inflation.
Inflation grew at an annualized rate of 8.5 percent in March, the highest since 1981 and consumer prices for April are due to be released on Wednesday.
Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight gives TIPP Insights, which conducted the poll, an "A+" rating and also tracks Biden's approval using a variety of polls and its own system of pollster ratings.
FiveThirtyEight gave Biden an approval rating of 41.9 percent as of Monday, while his disapproval was 52.1 percent.
