President Joe Biden’s job approval rating jumped in a new Quinnipiac University poll but still sits at 40% among all respondents, a figure tough for Democratic congressional candidates to overcome in the midterm elections.
Biden’s numbers with registered voters, 41%, are not much better, according to the survey, conducted Aug. 25-29 with an error margin of 2.6 percentage points. Dragging the president down was underperformance among Democratic voters (83%) and low marks among crucial independent voters (36%).
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However, the results mark an improvement for Biden overall. In July, his job approval ratings cratered at 31% among those surveyed and 33% among registered voters. This spike could help some Democrats in swing House districts and competitive Senate races survive if it continues after Labor Day.
Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said Biden’s “summertime surge” might be the result of “increased support among young adults who may well be encouraged by Biden’s decision to erase some student debt.”
The poll found that the public approves of Biden’s plan to have taxpayers swallow some college loan debts for borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually by a margin of 53% to 43%. Both Democrats (88%) and independents (53%) support this policy.
This survey is not the first to show at least a partial rehabilitation of Biden’s political standing. He hit 45% approval in a fresh poll from CBS News and has been reaching the mid-40s in daily tracking conducted by Rasmussen. Still, Biden’s ratings were stuck at 41.8% in the RealClearPolitics average as of Wednesday afternoon.
Congressional Democrats need Biden’s average to jump to the mid-40s, at least, if they are to avoid an electoral bloodbath on Nov. 8. Democrats are defending a narrow five-seat majority in the House and a 50-50 Senate that they control only by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote.
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The generic ballot, gauging which party voters would prefer be in charge on Capitol Hill, is tied. Meanwhile, according to additional findings from the Quinnipiac poll:
- 50% approve of Biden’s response to the coronavirus.
- 44% approve of Biden’s handling of climate change.
- 38% approve of Biden’s handling of foreign policy.
- 37% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, a top voter priority and 10-point improvement over what Quinnipiac found in July.
- 27% approve of Biden’s handling of the situation at the Mexican border.
