Poll: Independents Disapprove of Joe Biden by Double Digits

Independent voters disapprove of President Joe Biden by double digits, April’s IBD/TIPP survey revealed.

While the survey reported Biden’s general approval rating is slightly improving, it admits this is almost entirely due to Democrats — not independents or Republicans.

Over the past month, Biden’s approval rose 4.3 percent, arriving to 49.5 percent, while 50.5 percent continue to disapprove, although those figures are “excluding those who were unsure or declined to state an opinion,” according to the survey. Among the entire group, Biden’s approval stands at 42 percent, with 43 percent disapproving:

However, the survey found that Biden’s approval among Republicans and independents, specifically, is dismal. Republicans, predictably, disapprove of Biden 81 percent to 12 percent, but independents strongly disapprove of Biden as well, as 51 percent disapprove and less than one-third, 29 percent, approve.

In all, the survey found that Biden’s general boost is due to Democrats increasing their support:

The recovery of Biden’s approval rating has come principally among Democrats, who now back his job performance 76%-12%. That compares to 74%-15% in March and 66%-21% in February. However, independents continued to disapprove of Biden’s job performance by a lopsided margin: 51%-29% in April, vs. 53%-27% and 55%-27% the prior two months. Republicans disapprove 81% to 12%, a modest bounce from March’s 87%-8% and February’s 83%-11%.

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All signs point to inflation as a major source of Biden’s poor reviews. U.S. employers added 7.9 million jobs in the first 14 months of Biden’s presidency, including 431,000 last month. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage has grown a strong 5.6%. Yet inflation has eaten away all of that increase and more for many Americans.

The IBD/TIPP Poll finds that just 20% of adults say their wages have kept pace with inflation, while 48% say they haven’t kept pace. Meanwhile, 88% of Americans are concerned about the path of inflation over the next 12 months.

The survey comes as inflation hits a 40-year high of 8.5 percent over the last year. On that front, Americans disapprove of Biden’s job performance on the economy 44 percent to 33 percent. Independents, again, disapprove by a double digit margin — 54 percent to 18 percent.

The survey, taken April 6-8 among 1,305 adults, has a +/- 2.8 percent margin of error.