Battered on trust, doubted on leadership

"These new poll numbers are frankly brutal for the president," CNN anchor Jake Tapper reported on Wednesday after a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that President Biden is at his lowest approval number yet — 38 percent.

But the 38 percent approval is perhaps the best news in the poll when looking at how Americans see the president's performance on individual issues. "Brutal" is almost a generous way to describe it.

Just nine months into his presidency, Biden is at 32 percent approval with independents, the people who decide elections in battleground states such as Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada. On his handling of the economy, which was in the midst of a V-shaped recovery when Biden took office, he's 16 points under water (39 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove). On taxes, the president is 17 points under water.

But here's why these polling numbers aren't just part of the usual peaks and valleys that every president endures: On the question of whether the administration – not just Biden – is competently running the government, just 42 percent say it is doing so.

Biden has a lower approval rating at this point in his term than all but two presidents since 1945, so if he’s going to regain his popularity, he’s got an unusually big hole to dig himself out of," FiveThirtyEight concludes.

His handlers apparently remain petrified to allow him to speak beyond reading off a teleprompter.

“Battered on trust, doubted on leadership, and challenged on overall competency, President Biden is being hammered on all sides as his approval rating continues its downward slide to a number not seen since the tough scrutiny of the Trump administration,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy candidly observed in a statement after the poll was released.

Add it all up, and we have a flailing economy, rising inflation, rising crime, essentially an open border and a mess in Afghanistan. While all of this is happening, the president and vice president are shielded from the public outside of tightly scripted events. Democrats also are in the midst of a civil war and, despite controlling the House and Senate, can't get a massive spending bill across the goal line.

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