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By Andrew Stanton
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President Joe Biden is set to leave office with a lower approval rating than President-elect Donald Trump had after his first term, when his approval plummeted following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Newsweek reached out to Biden's political team for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Democrats have pointed to Biden's low approval rating as a key factor that may have dragged Vice President Kamala Harris down in the presidential race against Trump, which she narrowly lost in November. Democrats have lamented Biden's decision to run for reelection and later drop out of the race.
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Meanwhile, recent polls have suggested that Trump's favorability has rebounded since he left office. His approval took a hit after the Capitol riot when a group of his supporters stormed the building to protest the 2020 election results.
What To Know
538's polling aggregate showed Biden 20 points underwater on Wednesday, the last time it was updated. Only 37.1 percent of Americans approved Biden's job performance, while 57.1 percent gave him negative marks.
This is a worse approval rating than Trump's when he left office. On January 20, 2021, 38.6 percent of Americans gave Trump positive marks, while 57.9 percent said they disapproved of his job performance.
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Before the January 6 riot, Trump's approval rating remained underwater, but less so. On November 3, 2020, just one day after Election Day, 52.6 percent of Americans disapproved of his job performance, while 44.6 percent approved.
Trump faced, and continues to face, criticism for the riot. Critics accused him of stoking tensions by repeatedly saying the election was stolen despite a lack of evidence. He faced federal charges over the riot, but the case was dropped after his reelection. He accused prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes and pleaded not guilty.
Biden's approval rating last hit 40 percent on October 14, 2024, according to 538's aggregate. His approval suffered due to economic concerns, including inflation that followed the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, though the inflation rate began to decline after 2022. Immigration and the conflict between Israel and Hamas also fueled his low approval.
Despite Biden's low approval rating, he told USA Today in an exit interview published Wednesday that he believed he could have won reelection if he hadn't dropped out of the race.
"It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes," Biden said.
What People Are Saying
Veteran Democratic Strategist David Axelrod on CNN Wednesday: "This was a judgment, fairly or not, on the Biden administration...We know what polling was on Election Day, and JB had a 40 percent approval rating. I don't think there's been a president who won reelection with an approval rating that low."
Thomas Gift, from the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, previously told Newsweek: "While the myriad challenges of this administration, from a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal to deep-seated inflation, are top of minds for Americans now, more distance from Biden's tenure will provide a richer appreciation also of its accomplishments."
What Happens Next
Trump will be inaugurated as the United States' next president on January 20, 2025.
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