FiveThirtyEight reports that the president’s approval rating as of April 23 is 42.3%. It’s up from the lows of the summer of 2022 (around 40%), but it’s still well below Biden’s high point (53% in January 2021).
According to some surveys, Joe Biden would win a rematch with Donald Trump in 2024.
If Biden does run for president again, he might make history as the least popular president ever to be re-elected.
Presidents seeking re-election with 50% or approval ratings from the American people typically won a second term, while those with ratings lower than 50% lost.
In 2004, just before George W. Bush won a second term, his approval rating was 48%.
Two presidents with lower than 40% approval ratings were George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Jimmy Carter in 1980.
In November 2011, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney for a second term in office despite an approval rating that had dipped below 40% during his first term. Obama’s approval rating on election day was 52%.
Two equally disliked candidates may square off in the 2024 presidential election. Although it is unclear at this time which party’s nominee will emerge, Donald Trump has already declared his candidacy for president, and Joe Biden is widely expected to run.
For Trump, having a low approval rating while running for office is nothing new. With 61% of respondents holding a negative view of Trump or actively disliking him, the former president managed to win in 2016. Although he was the fifth president to be elected after losing the popular vote, he was the first to take office with an overall approval rating of less than 40 percent.
As of January 20th, the latest data from FiveThirtyEight showed that Trump’s approval rating was 38.6%, with 57.9% of Americans disapproving of the controversial ex-president. Since January 2017, voter disapproval of Trump has steadily increased.
FiveThirtyEight’s compilation of national polls conducted between December 2022 and January 2023 shows Biden consistently leading Trump by a small margin.
This would be the first time in history that two disliked candidates would compete in an election.
