Biden Hits Lowest Point Of Presidency With Only 40% Of Americans Supporting Him

President Joe Biden's approval ratings are at a dangerously low point in his second year in office as his support plummets to its lowest level yet, CNBC reported on Monday.

In a new NBC News survey, only 40% of Americans said that they approved of Biden's work as president, and a more ominous 71% say the U.S. is "off on the wrong track." The survey comes as the Biden administration is forced to grapple with a number of legislative setbacks as well as crises at home and abroad.

The steady ascent of inflation to levels not seen since the 1980s has been Biden's biggest domestic challenge as supply chain woes and high energy prices continue to take their toll. The president stumbled early on inflation, arguing that it was likely to be “transitory,” but these predictions have not panned out, nor have Biden’s other efforts to directly cut into inflation. More than 1 in 3 Americans (38%) blamed Biden's policies for inflation.

Overseas, Biden was hammered for his chaotic handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan last August, creating a talking point for his Republican critics to wield against him. Now Biden has been thrust into the leadership role for the West as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wages a bloody war against Ukraine. Only 44% of those surveyed said they had confidence in Biden's handling of the Ukrainian crisis.

Initially, the president’s forceful response to Putin drew an increase in support as more Americans expressed their support for Ukraine. However, a recent poll by the Associated Press/NORC found that even members of his own party did not feel Biden was being tough enough on Russia in defense of Ukraine. Biden has defended his actions to date, but has cautioned that the risk of escalation to “World War III” was a real concern.

COVID-19 has fallen from the front-page agenda as inflation concerns and the war in Ukraine have seized the spotlight, but the latest sub-variant of the Omicron variant remains a concern. However, after withstanding the first wave of Omicron, the White House has moved in the direction of lighter-touch measures to address the virus and shepherd a return toward normalcy. Only 49.3% of those surveyed approved of Biden's handling of COVID, according to the FiveThirtyEight politics blog.

The low numbers could spell serious trouble for Biden, whose Democratic Party controls only a 12-seat majority in the House of Representatives and an evenly split Senate going into the midterm elections. The entire House is up for re-election as are 35 seats in the Senate, so the traditional sweep of the ruling party from power seen in midterm elections takes on outsized importance for Biden.

Even with a slim legislative majority, Biden has had difficulty advancing his agenda. Last year, Biden saw his Build Back Better plan effectively gutted by his own party’s disagreements after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-Az., voted against it. Despite securing a $1 trillion physical infrastructure bill with bipartisan support, the blow set a narrative that Biden may not be in control of either his party or the national agenda.