Joe Biden Dropped Out, Then His Job Approval Takes Off

Friday, September 06, 2024

Since Joe Biden reluctantly stepped aside from the presidential race in late July, his approval rating has steadily ticked up to levels of popularity he had not seen in more than a year, an apparent reflection of both the gratitude of voters who view his decision as selfless and also of a slew of positive economic news in recent weeks. The 48% approval Biden reached in a poll conducted for USA Today last week was the highest mark Suffolk had recorded during the Democrat's presidency.

Posted by tonyroma at 12:32 PM | 23 COMMENTS | permalink

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"He's taken himself out of [the election], he's entered legacy territory with some voters, they've seen he's passing the torch," David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center told HuffPost. "So in that sense, it's not point in time job approval, it's more the totality of his administration over the last four years."

Paleologos compared Biden to a retiring athlete getting a last round of applause from the hometown fans: "You forget the bad games and you remember the time when the athlete performed to your liking or exceeded your expectations. It's the same kind of dynamic."

Beyond Suffolk, polling from Quinnipiac University and Gallup has also found big increases in Biden's standing. In Quinnipiac's polls, he went from a net -18 approval in mid-July to -7 in a survey conducted last week. Gallup had him jumping from -22 net approval in July to -10 in August.

Paleologos pointed to Biden's gains with independent women, who have tilted increasingly Democratic since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Biden went from 47% approval to 58% approval with the group in Suffolk's polling.

Since Donald Trump is making the bashing of Joe Biden's presidency his chief talking point - tying everything to Kamala Harris as well - the rise of Biden's popularity becomes another indicator that Danforth's prognostications seem to be spot on if these popularity trends are mirrored by actual votes come Election Day.

It's turning out that Biden isn't quite so despised as Republicans contend as Joe's popularity is leaving Trump's wallowing in the dust of his overused bronzing powder. If these trends were analogized into a Magic 8-Ball answer to the question is Kamala Harris going to be elected President(?), the answer - at this moment - most certainly would be "Signs point to yes".

#1 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-09-04 09:35 AM