Biden loses more support than any other president since WWII: Approval ratings in his first nine months nosedive by 11% as independents abandon him and just 42% of Americans think he’s doing a good job

• Biden’s approval is lower than at any other point in his term, Gallup poll revealed
• His October approval rating is more than 10 points lower than average 
• Only Obama has a larger drop in average approval from January to October
• Latest survey shows Biden’s approval has not recovered from the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal at the end of the summer nor the border crisis 

Joe Biden has disappointed Americans more than any other president since World War II has at this point in their term, a new Gallup poll released Friday appears to show. 

The newest data is from a survey taken from October 1 – 19 and compares Biden’s average approval rating across the first three quarters of his term against every president since  Dwight Eisenhower. 

Biden lost a whopping 11. 3 percentage points from his first quarter approval of 56 percent to an average of 44.7 percent at the end of the three months spanning late July through October.

It comes after the White House was forced to walk back a number of remarks the president made at a CNN town hall on Thursday night, including comments on defending Taiwan from China and mobilizing the National Guard to help with the supply chain crisis.

His former boss Barack Obama saw the second-largest dip in average approval, losing 10.1 percent from his first through third quarters.

Donald Trump, the only post-WWII president whose approval rating is lower than Biden’s at this point, saw a smaller drop of just 4.4 percent after having started with low expectations.

Independents appear to be driving down Biden’s favorability the most, from 61 percent approval at the beginning of February to just 34 percent in October. 

The historic drop is fueled by Biden’s inability to shake off growing public dissatisfaction over his White House tenure as his month-to-month approval rating slips to a new low of 42 percent in October.

Biden has seen the highest drop in his average approval rating compared to any other president since World War II. His ex-boss Barack Obama is a close second

Biden’s plummeting approval ratings appear to have leveled off, falling just one point from September to October

His approval was dealt a massive blow amid a border crisis that appears to be spiraling out of control and the US’s hasty exit from Afghanistan at the end of summer. 

And the recent supply chain crisis that’s sent consumer prices soaring and left many grocery shelves empty has become a cudgel that Republican lawmakers have labeled ‘Bidenflation.’

But in good news for the Democratic president, his dip in approval ratings appears to be leveling off. 

In September he took a significant blow when his ratings went from 49 to 43 percent. The one point drop in October is modest by comparison.

Slightly fewer people disapprove of him as well, with Biden’s disapproval rating lowering from 53 to 52 percent.  

The party breakdown of Gallup’s October survey reflects the hyper-partisan environment of today’s politics. 

Democrats are still firm in their support for Biden. His approval rating among his own party never dipped below 90 percent at any point in his term and even went up by two points this month. 

Among Republicans, however, the president has hit a record low of just 4 percent approval. 

The 88-point gap between GOP and Democrats is the largest Biden has seen in his presidency so far and comes amid multiple ideological clashes.

Normally apolitical, local settings such as public schoolboard meetings have become partisan battlegrounds as the number of violent outbursts caused by parents angry at critical race theory and mask guidelines lash out at education officials. 

Republicans have accused Biden of unfairly targeting parents after his Justice Department directed federal law enforcement to help crack down on what it called a ‘disturbing trend.’

Biden’s administration has also waded into political battles with the president’s sweeping vaccine order announced in September, affecting 100 million American workers.

A number of Republican governors, most recently Doug Ducey of Arizona, are mounting a resistance to the mandate.

Americans are also likely unhappy with Washington politicians in general, amid massive gridlock – particularly among Democrats themselves – in trying to pass Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better agenda.  

Biden’s poor approval rating falls well below the average for a president during their first October in the White House

Earlier in his presidency Biden’s approval ratings were dealt a blow by the US’s chaotic Afghanistan exit and a humanitarian outcry over a record number of Haitian migrants coming to the southern border from Central and South America.

While both crises have mostly exited the news cycle, the president’s approval hasn’t rebounded the same way.

Overall, however, the situation at the southern border appears to be worsening. New data released from Customs and Border Protection shows that border arrests have hit the highest point since 1986 and 1.7 million migrants were detained in Fiscal Year 2021.

Compared with most other presidents at the end of their first October in the White House, Biden fails to hold up. His 42 percent approval falls far short of the 53 percent average for US presidents beginning in 1938.

Since Eisenhower in 1952, however, only Trump’s Gallup approval at this point is lower – 37 percent. 

Bill Clinton comes close with 48 percent. 

The highest first-October approval rating belongs to George W. Bush with 88 percent, at a time when he was experiencing unprecedented national and international support in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

White House walks back Biden’s town hall words: Clarifies he does NOT have the power to mobilize National Guard to fix supply chain crisis and says he overstepped the mark with vow to defend Taiwan from China 

The White House has walked back a number of remarks President Biden made in a CNN town hall Thursday night. 

A White House official said that the Biden administration is ‘not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level.’ 

‘Requesting the use of the National Guard at the state level is under the purview of governors,’ the official clarified, according to multiple news outlets. 

‘The answer is yes,’ the president said, asked if he would send in the guard to alleviate supply chain issues that are leading to product shortages and rampant inflation. ‘Absolutely, positively,’ he added. 

Asked if he would consider sending in the guard to drive trucks, the president said: ‘Yes, if we can’t increase the number of truckers.’ 

‘The answer is yes,’ the president said, asked if he would send in the guard to alleviate supply chain issues that are leading to product shortages and rampant inflation

Cargo container trucks wait in line to enter AMP Terminals at the Port of Los Angeles, Oct. 20,

A White House official said that the Biden administration is ‘not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level’ 

Biden said ‘I had a timetable for, first of all to get the ports up and running,’ before he would call up the guard. He noted commitments he had from major corporations like Walmart, FedEx and UPS to run 24/7 operations to help the congested supply chain. 

What Biden said Thursday night vs. What White House said Friday 

 Biden, Thursday night on CNN

‘The answer is yes,’ the president said, asked if he would send in the guard to alleviate supply chain issues.

‘Absolutely, positively,’ he added. 

Asked if he would consider sending in the guard to drive trucks, the president said: ‘Yes, if we can’t increase the number of truckers.’ 

 White House, Friday 

 ‘Requesting the use of the National Guard at the state level is under the purview of governors and we are not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level,’ a White House official said. 

Bill Sullivan, executive vice president for advocacy with the American Trucking Associations, a trade group, said that any National Guard members with a commercial driver’s license are likely already driving trucks. 

‘And the freight network is private, so which company’s products would the National Guard haul?’ Sullivan said in a statement, according to the Wall Street Journal. ‘While we understand why elected officials are looking at all possible authorities to help, deploying the Guard to haul freight isn’t feasible and would only further complicate the current situation.’ 

Meanwhile, haulage companies are offering six-figure salaries and $15,000 sign-on bonuses while struggling to attract 80,000 new drivers who are needed to relieve the nation’s supply crisis.

White House advisers were forced to clarify a comment Biden made that the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, in breach of a longstanding policy that states otherwise.  

‘Yes,’ he responded when asked in a CNN town hall about defending Taiwan. ‘We have a commitment to that.’

Biden’s statement was at odds with the long-held US policy known as ‘strategic ambiguity,’ where Washington helps build Taiwan’s defenses but does not explicitly promise to come to the island’s help in the event of an attack. 

After Thursday’s town hall, a White House spokesperson said Biden was not announcing any change in US policy. 

‘The US defense relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act. 

‘We will uphold our commitment under the act, we will continue to support Taiwan’s self-defense, and we will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo,’ the spokesperson said. 

Speaking to reporters earlier on Thursday, China’s United Nations ambassador, Zhang Jun, said the country was pursuing ‘peaceful reunification’ with Taiwan and responding to ‘separatist attempts’ by its ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

‘We are not the troublemaker,’ he said, although Taiwan has repeatedly insisted it has no desire to ‘reunite’ with China, and wishes to retain its status as an independent democracy. 

‘On the contrary, some countries – the US in particular – is taking dangerous actions, leading the situation in Taiwan Strait into a dangerous direction.

‘Dragging Taiwan into a war definitely is in nobody’s interest.’

Biden made a similar pledge to protect Taiwan in August during an interview with ABC, insisting that the United States would always defend key allies, including Taiwan, despite the withdrawal from Afghanistan in the face of the victorious Taliban.

That withdrawal was seized on by critics as evidence that Biden would be soft on defending allies, and saw him accused of potentially emboldening Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vow to re-take Taiwan.  

Biden said the United States made a ‘sacred commitment’ to defend NATO allies in Canada and Europe and it’s the ‘same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan.’

The White House subsequently told reporters that US policy on Taiwan ‘has not changed.’

Asked by an audience member Thursday about China’s rapidly-growing military might, Biden said: ‘Don’t worry about whether… they’re going to be more powerful.’

‘China, Russia and the rest of the world knows we have the most powerful military in the history of the world.’

However, Biden expressed concern that rival countries may ‘engage in activities where they may make a serious mistake.’

He referred to his longtime relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and repeated his position that he does not want ‘to start a new Cold War with China.’

But he warned: ‘I just want to make China understand that we are not going to step back.’

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