Gallup Poll: Biden Marks Year One with Lowest Job Approval to Date, Extreme Polarization

President Joe Biden ended his first year in office with his lowest approval rating to date and extreme polarization, a Wednesday Gallup poll revealed.

While Biden assumed office with 57 percent approval rating, only 40 percent approved of Biden one year later, according to Gallup.

Biden’s first year in office averaged 48.9 percent but shrank (to 43 percent) shortly after he stranded hundreds of U.S. citizens behind enemy lines during the collapse of Afghanistan in September. The rise of 40-year-high inflation caused Biden’s lowest marks.

Biden’s average approval rating is less than former Democrat presidents, such as Bill Clinton (49.3 percent), Barack Obama (57.2 percent), Jimmy Carter (61.9 percent):

For Biden’s most recent quarter in office, his fourth, which spanned from October 20 through January 19, an average of 41.7% of U.S. adults approved of Biden. Only Trump’s fourth-quarter average was lower than Biden’s, at 36.9%. All other presidents had fourth-quarter averages of 50% or above, with Barack Obama (50.0%), Ronald Reagan (50.8%) and Clinton (51.0%) closest to that mark. George W. Bush’s 85.7% fourth-quarter average is the highest, as Americans rallied around his presidency after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Gallup’s polling also cites independents as the cause of Biden’s dwindling numbers. Just 33 percent of independents approve of Biden, while 50 percent approved of Biden during the first half of his presidency.

Democrat support for Biden was polled less strong than in months prior to January 2022, dropping ten points since December (80 percent from 90 percent).

Republicans marked Biden with less than a ten percent approval rating.

The parties’ disparity showed a highly polarized environment throughout 2021, the most polarization of any Democrat president and only second overall to Donald Trump, Gallup suggested:

On average during his first year as president, Biden averaged 91% approval among Democrats, 46% among independents and 8% among Republicans. The average 83-percentage-point Democratic-Republican gap exceeded that for prior first-year presidents by a significant margin.

Before Biden, the most polarized first year belonged to Trump, with an average 75-point party gap in approval ratings. Trump’s ratings were as low among Democrats as Biden’s are among Republicans, but Trump’s fellow Republicans were less likely to approve of him during his first year (83%) than Democrats were of Biden.

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