With just one year left until the 2024 election, President Joe Biden finds himself in a precarious position, facing the lowest approval ratings of any president seeking a second term since Jimmy Carter, according to recent polls.
As of Sunday, Biden’s Gallup approval rating stands at 37 percent, a significant drop from his initial 57 percent approval when he took office in January 2021. This decline is attributed to various factors, including the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and concerns over the 80-year-old president’s age and physical fitness. An AP-NORC poll conducted in August revealed that 77 percent of Americans, including 69 percent of Democrats, viewed Biden as too old to be effective for another four years.
Historical data indicates that maintaining a 50 percent approval rating in the final days before the election is crucial for a successful re-election bid. Biden’s current approval rating puts him at a disadvantage compared to his six immediate predecessors, including Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, all of whom had higher approval ratings at the same stage.
Two of Biden’s predecessors, Trump and George H.W. Bush, failed to secure re-election despite having higher approval ratings than Biden’s current 37 percent. The only president with a lower approval rating one year before the election was Jimmy Carter, who stood at 32 percent and eventually lost in a landslide defeat.
Biden’s re-election campaign team remains optimistic, despite the challenges. Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez acknowledged that the 2024 election would be closely contested. She emphasized that Biden’s 2020 campaign message continues to resonate with voters and will be central to the upcoming campaign. The campaign has already initiated a $25 million advertising campaign, with plans to spend a total of $1 billion on promoting Biden’s candidacy among voters, up from $800 million in 2020.
While Biden’s team expresses confidence in his ability to recover, dissent within the Democratic ranks could pose additional challenges as the election approaches. The coming months will prove crucial as Biden works to regain public support and secure his position for a second term.
