The Bloom Is Off Biden’s Rose

Joe Biden’s election last November was greeted with great fanfare by Democrats, the media, and some Republicans. Their glee was not for what he articulated or promised during a rigorous campaign. Instead, Biden was the anti-Trump who wouldn’t be tweeting incessantly or pushing back against Beltway establishment sacred cows like open borders, runaway government spending, and endless wars.

Biden had the advantage of being a placeholder rather than a candidate, mumbling incoherent words from his basement, words written by others. When he strayed off script, he spoke of children stroking his hairy legs, hardly the inspiring campaign rhetoric of a future president.

His demeanor and speaking ability did not improve during the presidential transition and discussions of election fraud became commonplace. Perhaps some buyers remorse was setting in, starting his presidency underwater, according to Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, where he began his term at only 36% strongly approve and 48% strongly disapprove.

Like a leaky boat, Biden’s numbers slowly sank and on September 10, among likely voters, only 26% strongly approved of his job performance compared to 45% who strongly disapproved. Rasmussen’s poll was not of a bunch of partisan Republicans. Instead their polling sample was 36% Republican compared to 38% Democrat, giving Biden a slight partisan edge.

Rasmussen Reports is the only nationally recognized public opinion firm that still tracks presidential job approval ratings on a daily basis. Compare this to the New York Times. In their section of, “President Biden’s approval rating and the latest poll numbers: updates”, their “update” is four months old, last updated on May 10 when Biden had only begun to damage America and his job approval was 63% according to the Associated Press and NORC.

This AP poll also oversampled Democrats over Republicans 46-37%, providing a false sense of Biden’s popularity. Why has the New York Times not provided more recent poll results? Perhaps they don’t like what they are seeing.

The Real Clear Politics average has President Biden at about 45% approval and 49% disapproval, based on eight recent polls. The bloom is off Biden’s rose, sending him into negative territory. Perhaps the American public is not impressed with open borders, inflation now at 8.3%, a military surrender in Afghanistan, endless government spending, and a COVID-19 policy that Biden promised would return life to normal but instead is bringing back masks, mandates, and rising case counts after more than 18 months of COVID-19 madness.

Wait until polling reflects the President’s new vaccine mandates, forcing millions of Americans to choose between their conscience or medical status versus the ability to work, shop and travel – while Congress and their staff have no such vaccine mandate.

One recent poll is noteworthy as it found, “More Americans than ever disapprove of Joe Biden’s performance as president.” This is from YouGovAmerica where his approval and disapproval lines crossed several weeks ago in the aftermath of the Afghanistan surrender fiasco. Now 49% of those surveyed disapprove of his job performance compared to only 39% who approve. What else did this poll find?

The Biden administration’s habit of blaming Trump for Biden’s missteps won’t fly. In this poll, when asked “Who do you think is more responsible for the current state of the US economy?”, only 26% blamed Trump compared to 45% laying the blame at the feet of the current president.

When asked about the direction of the country, 60% of those surveyed think America is on the wrong track compared to only 26% who believe we are on the right track. Remarkably even 35% of Democrats think the country is “off on the wrong track.” This poll also oversampled Democrats by 31-24%, meaning Biden’s standing is even worse than the survey demonstrated.

One might think Congress can fix things, but they fare even worse than Biden in this poll with 15% approval compared to 55% disapproval.

Lastly a recent Emerson College poll of registered voters found Biden with 47% disapproval and 46% approval today. His rose lost its bloom from February when Biden’s approval was 49% compared to 39% disapproval.

Joe would probably say “c’mon man”, polls this early don’t matter. Which for a presidential election they don’t. But the midterms will be here soon and with it, a potential shift in control of Congress. As Congressional Republicans are far better at talking than doing, Congressional control may mean little, as President Trump learned during his first two years in office.

What is apparent though is that Biden’s anti-Trump agenda is not going well, and despite Trump’s personality and tweets, Americans are waking up to the fact that things were pretty good during Trump’s presidency, especially compared to now. And given Biden’s trajectory, his approval numbers are likely to continue to slide downward. The bloom is off Biden’s rose.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.