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The most important fight that Biden will face this year is the November midterms and the latest Quinnipiac Poll depicts a very difficult picture for the president as only a third of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as the commander-in-chief. Most alarming for Biden and Democrats is that his numbers are historically low with Latino voters, a key demographic group that has been a cornerstone of the Democrats’ strategy for decades.
The eye-opening survey is the latest one showing that the new year has not been a new beginning for the President. The FiveThirtyEight polling average has Biden polling at only 42.3% approval ratings while 51.4% disapprove of him. To put this into context, Biden remains the second most unpopular president in recent times during their first year in office.
Only a third of Americans think Biden is doing a good job
The most important data out of this poll is that Biden is only being supported by 33% of Americans. This is a steep drop from the ratings the president received in a similar Quinnipiac poll back in April 2021, when 48% of Americans approved of his performance as President.
Biden is not only disliked but there are far more people who strongly dislike him than those who strongly approve of him. Only 17% of Americans say they strongly approve of Biden as President, while a staggering 43% of respondents say they strongly disapprove of the job the President has done. In fact, Biden’s support is shaky even within the Democratic Party, as only 43% of Democrats say they strongly approve of his job performance, in contrast, 86% of Republicans strongly disapprove of him.
The dislike over Biden’s response to specific policy questions is also at critical levels. A majority of 57% of Americans think the President is not handling the economy well (including 20% of Democrats), a 54% of respondents disapprove of Biden’s handling of Foreign policy, and Biden is also polling low in the response to the coronavirus, which formerly was his strongest point among voters.
A majority of Latino voters disapprove of Biden, confirming a seismic shift in American politics
The Quinnipiac poll also showed that a majority of Hispanics disapprove of Biden as president, as 51% of Latino respondents think he is doing a poor job while a mere 28% approve of him. Just in November, Quinnipiac registered that Biden still had the approval of 41% of Hispanic respondents. Latinos also gave very low marks on Biden’s handling of the economy (61% disapprove), foreign policy (58%), and the handling of the Coronavirus (59%).
If these numbers are true, this could represent a monumental shift in American politics, as Latinos have been considered to be reliably Democratic votes for decades. Just in 2016, the Democratic Party managed to get 66% of the Latino vote, according to exit polls, while in 2020 Biden himself also got a majority of the Hispanic vote, albeit Trump improved his showing significantly in heavily-Hispanic communities.
However, disapproval of Biden does not necessarily translate into Republican votes, as the Quinnipiac survey shows that a majority of Latinos still would want to see Democrats control the House of Representatives after the midterms, while they are equally divided over who should control the Senate.
The Quinnipiac poll confirms a trend of disillusionment of Latinos towards the President, however, the survey also shows that the Republican Party should not believe that the Hispanic disapproval of Biden would automatically grant the Hispanic vote to the GOP once Americans go to the ballot box later this year.
Daniel is a Political Science and Economics student from the University of South Florida. He worked as a congressional intern to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) from January to May 2020. He also is the head of international analysis at Politiks // Daniel es un estudiante de Cs Políticas y Economía en la Universidad del Sur de la Florida. Trabajo como pasante legislativo para el Representate Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) desde enero hasta mayo del 2020. Daniel también es el jefe de análisis internacional de Politiks.