The poll was conducted March 18-22, just before the president left for a trip to Europe, where on Saturday he deviated from the script and said Vladimir Putin could not remain in power
President Joe Biden’s approval rating has fallen even further this month, according to a new poll released Sunday, as a staggering seven in 10 Americans believe he may not be able to deal with Russia’s bloody and unprovoked invasion of the United States Ukraine to finish.
Just 40 percent of respondents in NBC’s new poll say they approve of the president’s tenure in the White House, the lowest on the network’s polls to date. It fell three points from January.
What could be of concern for Biden’s re-election chances is a decline in support among female voters, black voters and independents — demographics that were all key to his 2020 victory.
His disapproval rate also hit a new high at 55 percent.
The poll was conducted March 18-22, just before the president left for a European trip to an extraordinary meeting of NATO allies to discuss Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Biden called Putin a “war criminal” on March 17. On Saturday, during a speech in Warsaw, he alarmed foreign policy experts when he declared the Russian autocrat “cannot stay in power” after meeting an emotional day with Ukrainian refugees and aid workers who were helping them.
Sunday’s poll asked respondents “how much confidence” they have in Biden’s ability to direct Russia’s brutal attack.
The largest proportion – 44 percent – said they have “very little” trust in the president, while 27 percent have “only some” trust in him, making the total 71 percent.
Just 28 percent of Americans polled said they shared “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of support for Biden’s handling of Ukraine — a far cry from the confidence the president, through decades of foreign policy experience, wanted to instill in the Senate.
And a majority of people seem to believe that Biden’s actions to date have put the country on a path into direct conflict with Russia, despite the US’s declared preferred policy of de-escalation through diplomacy.
Biden’s approval rating hit a new low, according to NBC measurement, while his disapproval rating climbed to its highest point ever
Sixteen percent of Americans said they believe their nation is already at war with Russia based on how Biden and his officials have handled the crisis. A whopping 44 percent said the devastating conflict “will happen within the next year.”
Only 34 percent were confident that the US would not become involved in a war with Moscow.
Biden himself has repeatedly insisted that American troops will not unilaterally confront Russian ones, even rejecting Ukraine’s request for a no-fly zone over its territory amid fears a major war could break out.
However, 74 percent of survey respondents say they don’t take the president at his word about US boots in Ukraine.
More than eight in 10 respondents also said they fear such a conflict would lead to nuclear war, and 83 percent are concerned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will increase the cost of goods and services here at home, including gasoline will.
Meanwhile, very few people cited Russia’s attack as the reason for the runaway inflation that plagued the country for much of Biden’s first term.
View of a destroyed residential area in the city of Volnovakha, one of the cities hardest hit by the war between Russia and Ukraine that began on February 24 in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on March 27
Earlier this month, the Labor Department said the cost of consumer goods rose an average of 7.9 percent year-on-year in February, a staggering 40-year high. The hike has affected almost every aspect of American life — prices at the pump have soared 40 percent and the cost of meat and poultry has risen 13 percent.
However, only 6 percent of respondents to Sunday’s NBC poll said Russia’s invasion was to blame.
The largest proportion, 38 percent, blamed Biden and his policies.
After that, 28 percent of people said the COVID-19 pandemic drove up prices. 23 percent pointed the finger at companies’ price gouging.
The poll also suggests that Biden’s falling job approval could take a toll on his entire party with less than nine months to go before the November midterm elections.
Inflation in the United States hit a new 40-year high of 7.9% in February – another grim sign for consumers
Forty-six percent of voters said they would prefer Republicans to control Congress in 2023, compared with 44 percent who favor Democrats remaining in power.
NBC’s last poll in January had Democrats by a slight margin over the GOP for a 47 percent to 46 percent lead.
As for Biden himself, his 40 percent approval rating signals a loss of support even among reliable Democratic voters.
Support for the president among black voters has slumped to 62 percent in the most recent poll from 64 percent in January.
Female approval of Biden fell from 51 percentage points to 44 percentage points, and among independent voters it fell four percentage points to 32 over the same period.
The biggest drop in support, however, appears to be among Latino voters — an incredibly diverse voting bloc that has swung to both sides of the aisle.
Biden enjoyed 48 percent support among Latinos polled by NBC in January, down to 39 percent in Sunday’s poll.