President Biden during a press conference at the White House on May 19. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Only 39% of U.S. adults approved of Biden's performance as president this month, a new low in a monthly poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Research released Friday.
Why it matters: The new rating, based on a survey of 1,172 people, comes as midterm election primaries are heating up and as the country faces inflationary pressures, rising food, energy and housing prices and the persistent coronavirus pandemic.
By the numbers: Roughly two in 10 people who were polled said the U.S. is heading in the right direction or the economy is good.
- Both of those figures were down from roughly three in 10 from the AP-NORC Center for Public Research's April poll.
- Drops were concentrated among Democrats, with only 33% saying the country is headed in the right direction, a 16-percentage point decrease from April.
- 73% of polled Democrats approved of Biden's presidency, a major decrease from 2021 approval polls.
The big picture: Previous low approval rating polls have panicked Democrats across the political spectrum, with many fearing heavy political losses this November.
- It's common for the president’s party to lose seats in Congress in the midterms, though Biden's legislative agenda and judicial nominations could be completely stymied if Democrats lose control of the House or the Senate or both, Sarah Mucha reports.
Methodology: This poll interviewed 1,172 adults between May 12-16 and has a margin of sampling error for all respondents of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
Go deeper: Dems look to abortion fallout to salvage midterms