President Biden has not entered the New Year with the boost that he had been hoping the midterm election success would provide him. Following the midterm elections, his approval rates had seen a slight boost as the Democrats had managed to retain control of the House and only lose a handful of House seats. However, that boost does not appear to have followed him into the New Year.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll had Biden’s approval rates at 40 percent currently. While this is still a higher number than the one he had in last month’s survey it is not high enough to not cause the Democrats to worry as they are gearing up for Biden to launch his 2024 reelection campaign. Speculations want Biden to announce his reelection campaign after the State of the Union address.
One party strategist pointed out that it is not desirable for his approval rates to be around 40 percent while he is preparing for a reelection campaign. Instead, it would have been much better if his rates were five to six points higher.
However, it is not necessarily that Biden’s approval rates are that much lower than those of his predecessors. When entering the third year of their Presidency, both Trump and Obama had similar ratings, with Trump actually only having a 37 percent approval rating, while Obama had a 44 percent approval rating. However, it is worth noting that Trump was unable to win his reelection, while Obama had a fairly easy reelection against Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
