The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist national poll was released Monday, showing President Joe Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 41%. Marist said, “little changed from 42% earlier in December, which was the lowest score of his presidency.”
“55% of Americans disapprove of the job President Biden is doing, including 44% who strongly disapprove,” Marist said in a summary of the poll. “This is the highest negative rating for Biden since taking office.”
Earlier this month, Biden’s disapproval rating was at 51%.
According to the Marist poll, “Biden’s job approval has not been above 50% since June.” While much of the initial drop in approval could be attributed to how the United States ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan, the latest issues the Biden administration has been dealing with surround two things: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Build Back Better Act.
The latest COVID-19 numbers from the New York Times show cases in the U.S. are up 20% in the last two weeks. One of the factors fueling the rise in cases is the Omicron variant, which was first detected in the U.S. at the beginning of the month. On Monday, the first U.S. death from the Omicron variant was reported.
Biden addressed the Omicron variant in a speech Tuesday. At her daily briefing Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Americans should not expect new restrictions to come out of the speech.
“This is not a speech about locking the country down,” Psaki said. “This is a speech outlining and being direct and clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated, the steps we’re going to take to increase access and to increase testing, and the risks posed to unvaccinated individuals.”
Meanwhile, Biden is still trying to recover from the blow Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivered to the Build Back Better Act over the weekend. Sen. Manchin said he can’t support the bill in a television interview. He reiterated that message in a radio interview Monday.
“We’re in a 50-50 Senate,” Manchin said. “You all are approaching legislation as if you have 55 or 60 senators that are Democrats and you can do whatever you want. Well you know what we’re all diverse.”