President Biden's State of the Union is set for Tuesday, and now that he's got just over a year in office under his belt, the pollsters are out to see how America viewed those initial 365 days. Per a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey, not that hot. Turns out 56% of the 1,264 US adults polled Feb. 15 through Feb. 21 consider the president's first year a failure, with only 39% deeming it a success. Meanwhile, Biden is looking at a current 39% approval rating—55% express disapproval—with just 30% of Americans thinking the nation is on the right path. It's a "stark backdrop for Biden, who will face the nation with dismal reviews of his first year in office and his lowest job approval rating," a release notes.
"These are sort of rock-bottom numbers," Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which held the poll, tells NPR. "It's about as low as you're going to see him." Laura Santhanam breaks it all down for PBS, noting a few main takeaways. First, the public doesn't see Biden as doing well on domestic issues like economic leadership and handling the COVID pandemic, and they're also not thrilled on how he managed things leading up to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. The issue that the public thinks Biden should focus on the most right now is inflation.
One bright spot for Biden is that 61% of Americans give him a thumbs-up for his decision to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Still, most of the news out of this latest poll is bleak, and it may not bode well for the rest of Biden's term, as the first year of one's stint in the Oval Office is supposed to be "the most fun you're ever going to have as president," University of Chicago economics professor Austan Goolsbee tells Santhanam. She then draws her own conclusion: "If history is any guide, Biden has a long three years ahead." See more of the poll here, or a recap. (More President Biden stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
