Tehran, IRNA – Less than a month into midterm elections in the US, President Joe Biden sees his popularity declining and reaching its lowest level since he took office in January 2021, which makes things difficult for the president and his Democratic party even in the 2024 presidential election.
According to a poll recently published by Fox News, only 33% of respondents said they would vote for Biden in the 2024 election, while 54% said they cast ballots for another candidate.
Previous polls conducted in the US also showed that 38% approved of Biden’s performance, a sharp decline from a 50-percent approval rating in January 2021 when the incumbent entered the White House.
Things are not good for Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, either. Recent opinion polls show, as of September, 42% of American adults disapproved of Harris’ job performance, and only 15% approved of it.
The following chart showing a poll by Redfield and Wilton Strategies shows that Harris’ popularity has been on a declining trend since October 2021.
Multiple crises
Less than two years into his presidency, Biden is facing multiple crises that are making it difficult for his administration and even fellow Democrats to go ahead.
UK-based daily, the Guardian, in a June report speaks of “daunting crises” that Biden faced when taking office and believes that the US president is hit by yet more challenges.
Successive mass shootings including a racist attack at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, on May 14, 2022, and a massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that took place only ten days later are just examples of numerous deadly shootings that gave a rise to calls for tighter gun control in the US.
In late June, Biden signed into law a bill that imposes tougher checks on carrying guns and was the most significant gun measure in the US in nearly three decades.
Yet, the law has done little to tackle gun violence which experts blame on the vast number of weapons available to the people, as there are 120 guns per 100 persons.
The Covid pandemic and the high death toll it caused in the US – the country recorded more than a million fatalities which was the highest in the world – has been another factor contributing to public discontent with the Biden administration.
And, Biden faced growing criticism both at home and abroad over the US chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Although the withdrawal put an end to the US longest war overseas, it drew widespread criticism against Biden over the deaths of 13 American servicemen and dozens of Afghans in the final days of the US forces' presence there, as well as the devastating impacts left behind in Afghanistan, including growing poverty.
The Ukraine war, which began on February 24, is another crisis the Biden administration is facing on its foreign policy agenda.
Russia launched the war in response to the US-led NATO’s refusal to address its security concerns.
As the war has continued, the US and its allies have imposed rounds of sanctions on Russia, while providing Ukraine with financial and military aid.
The assistance has turned into a source of dissatisfaction in countries allied with the US, as their economies still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic are plunging into crisis in the wake of high inflation and soaring energy prices triggered by the anti-Russia sanctions.
The US itself is also grappling with high inflation at levels unseen in the past four decades, with prices in housing, medical care, transport as well as education all skyrocketing.
Escalating tensions with China over Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of Chinese territory, as well as the failure to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, are other issues the Biden administration is facing on its foreign policy agenda.
All those challenges have put more than before the US midterm elections set for November 8 in the spotlight.
All 435 House seats and 35 out of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs.
Simultaneously, candidates from the main political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, are vying for governorship in 36 states.
The latest poll jointly conducted by CBS News and YouGov shows that the Republicans are likely to take control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats, as the number of seats the Republicans can take up has increased by two compared with the previous poll.
Biden and his Democratic party fellow members are also highly expected to have a tough time ahead in the 2024 presidential election if the current trend of their declining popularity continues, as the American people remain concerned about their future.
