Biden's Ratings on Handling Inflation, Economy and Crime Continue to Fall as POTUS Brushes Off Polls

In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, the US president joked about no longer caring about his approval ratings after they dipped into the "mid-40s". Biden started his term with a nearly 55% approval rating.

US President Joe Biden's ratings are continuing to fall in certain areas of his performance, with Americans especially criticising his economic policies, a poll conducted by ABC News/Ipsos between 9 and 10 December has shown.

While his overall approval rating was estimated at around 48%, only 28% of those interviewed had a positive view of Biden's handling of the inflation. The latter reached 6.8% in November compared with 2020, setting almost an almost four-decade high. 69% of Americans disapproved of Biden's handling of the issue, while 57% were discontent with the direction of the country's economic recovery from the pandemic, the poll showed.

The president's performance in the areas of crime, immigration, and gun violence was also estimated as unsatisfactory by the majority of those surveyed. 61% of them did not like how Biden's team was handling crime and 63% were frustrated with POTUS' work on immigration issues. As was the case in August, when the president's ratings started to decline sharply, Americans are not happy with Biden's foreign policy. Some 55% dislike how he is handling the situation surrounding the alleged Russian military build-up at the border with Ukraine.

The two areas where Biden enjoyed the support of over half of those polled are his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his infrastructure plan. Some 53% of Americans backed his work on the pandemic, although this number is significantly lower than the 69% he had in January.

POTUS himself, however, seems to be largely unconcerned with the falling ratings, even as a 7 December poll by YouGov showed that only 39% of respondents positively viewed Biden's presidency. In his recent appearance on The Tonight Show, the president apparently joked that he stopped worrying about polls and ratings once the latter had fallen to "mid-40s".

"I was paying attention when they were in the mid-60s. But now, in the mid-40s, I don't pay attention anymore", Biden said.