Biden’s approval rating shrinks to 42 per cent as 7 in 10 Americans say he is leading US in wrong direction

‘I didn’t run to determine how well I’m gonna do in the polls,’ the president responds

US President Joe Biden addresses a press conference at the end of the G20 of World Leaders Summit on 31 October 2021 at the convention center "La Nuvola" in the EUR district of Rome (AFP via Getty Images)

More than 50 per cent of Americans disapproved of president Joe Biden’s performance in the White House, found a new poll.

According to the latest survey by NBC News, about 71 per cent of the participants believe that the country is headed on the wrong track under the presidency of Mr Biden, while only 42 per cent of the adults approved of him as the president.

Mr Biden did not seem to be doing well in other surveys as well. About 58 per cent of Americans were critical of Mr Biden’s handling of the economy, found a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affair Research.

Only 35 per cent felt the national economy is in good shape, while the remaining thought otherwise. This is a dip from September, when about 45 per cent Americans felt the country’s economy was good.

About 47 per cent Americans felt that the country’s economy will slide further down by next year, while only 30 per cent of the participants expected it to improve, found the poll. The dip is also observed among Democrats. While earlier this year, about 70 per cent Democrats expected the economy to get better under Mr Biden, nine months later, only 51 per cent do.

Meanwhile, about 74 per cent of Republicans felt it will get worse.

The Biden administration has also failed to sell the infrastructure and social programme bills to the general public, found another poll by ABC News-Ipsos. The poll said that while 55 per cent of the Americans followed news about the negotiation, about 69 per cent Americans knew just some or little to nothing about the two ambitious bills.

About 32 per cent Americans felt that the bills would hurt people if they became law, while 25 per cent felt it would help them. Nearly 18 per cent thought the bills would make no difference, and 24 per cent said they did not know.

Even among Democrats, only 47 per cent felt that the two bills would help them, and about 25 per cent thought it would make no difference.

But the president seemed unconcerned about the latest poll findings.

Mr Biden, who is currently attending the G20 summit in Rome, dismissed the concerns regarding the slide in his approval ratings, and said: “I didn’t run to determine how well I’m gonna do in the polls”.

Responding to a question about “why should the world believe that when you say America is back, that it is really here to stay,” Mr Biden on Sunday said: “Because the way they reacted.”

“They listened, everybody sought me out, they wanted to know what our views were, and we helped lead what happened here.”

“We got significant support here, significant support. The United States of America is the most critical part of this entire agenda and we did it,” he said.

The president said that the polls fluctuate throughout the tenure of the president’s term but “that’s not why I ran.”

“I didn’t run to determine how well I’m gonna do in the polls. I ran to make sure that I followed through on what I said I would do as president of the United States,” Mr Biden said.

“And I said, we would make sure that we were in a position where we dealt with climate change, where we moved in a direction that will significantly improve the prospects of American workers being able to have a good job and good pay. And further that, I would make sure we dealt with the crisis that was caused by the Covid. We have done all of those. We continue to do amend. We will see what happens. But I’m not running because of the polls,” he said.