President Biden‘s handling of the pandemic and the economy is costing him support even among his base, according to a survey released Tuesday by Pew Research Center.
The president’s job approval rating of 41% is down 3% overall since September, but support among Democrats and Democratic Party-leaning voters is falling even faster: Mr. Biden is down 7% among that group over the same period.
The report found that 68% of Democrats still give the president high marks, but that is down from 75% in September and 88% in July.
Just 29% of Democrats expressed satisfaction with the state of the nation, down 18% since March.
“While opinions about Biden and the state of the nation continue to be deeply divided along partisan lines, Democrats have become less supportive of the president and less satisfied with the way things are going in the country,” the report said.
Among Black voters, a key demographic that voted heavily for Mr. Biden, support for the president dropped to 60%, a 7% drop from 67% in September.
The share of Whites who approve of the way Mr. Biden is doing his job declined 4% from 37% to 33%. Mr. Biden’s approval rating among Hispanics and Asians remained unchanged since September.
Voters also gave Mr. Biden poor ratings on his handling of several key issues.
Roughly 44% of voters approved of Mr. Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, once a bright spot in presidential polling.
On the economy, 44% said they are confident in Mr. Biden’s ability to make good decisions about economic policy, compared to 55% who said they are not confident.
Just 30% of voters expressed confidence in Mr. Biden’s ability to bring the nation closer together, while 69% said they have little or no confidence he can unite the nation.
Bringing the nation together was a central theme of Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign.
The Pew study polled 5,128 U.S. adults between Jan. 10 through Jan. 17, the day Mr. Biden delivered a fiery speech on voting rights in Georgia.
Mr. Biden’s poll numbers have not been good news for the administration. A string of surveys released since the bungled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan shows his approval numbers are underwater.
A Harvard University Center for American Political Studies/Harris Poll released Monday indicated that Mr. Biden’s support among suburban voters is dwindling.
The poll showed that 55% of respondents who live in the suburbs say former President Trump was a better president than Mr. Biden, while 44% said Mr. Biden was the better leader.
