Democratic voters (see post above) expect perfection or damn near close to it, and actually hold the president accountable for everything (which is probably a good thing) which is vastly different than Republicans who are at their core authoritarian minded and do not believe their leader can do wrong, and it's always the other side that is the enemy. We are living in two vastly different worlds ideologically. One side wants a completely different style of government while the other side has no loyalty to person which makes a messy Democratic process in which that Democratic process has very little power to do anything because they are operating under the framework that half of the representatives won't openly be working to sabotage the system in any craven way possible because they know their voters despise democracy, and want an autocratic state. All things considered, I think Biden is doing a good job, and just needs more time to get change accomplish, but time is NOT on his side. The issue with Biden, and Obama before him is that they are being judged in a world where we have two or three governing parties who actually believe in the system of our Democracy, and half of the government isn't trying to destroy itself which the other side is oblivious to is, and acts like it's business as usual.
Biden is under water right now. He is quite a bit more popular than Trump at the same time, but he is well behind other successful Presidents at this point. He inherited an absolute mess, but it hasn't really gotten much better. I will be curious to see where he is around the holidays.
I don’t really have any complaints so far. I’m happy he got us out of Afghanistan. I don’t buy into the idea it could have been done much cleaner. He hasn’t looked to forgive any student loans which is a topic of particular interest to me. Obviously there are a number of massive problems I would like to see meaningfully addressed (Healthcare, war on drugs, gun reform, higher education) but real change on any of these larger issues would take legislation larger then Ive ever seen in my lifetime and which I think is politically impossible. So, overall Im fairly content.
I never understood the bad approval rating. I know tons of moderates and non of them were THAT unhappy with him.
The polling just isn't going to change that much over a short period of time like a year. I was even skeptical of those 36% days in the Trump era because in the end I know the people that made up the 5 to 10% of voters who said they don't approve but still voted for Trump, were 1000% more likely to still vote for Trump assuming they showed up because US elections are very much still about the lesser of two evils for many voters, and there is little wiggle room for convincing someone to switch sides. I still think that Biden would win at least the popular vote again if the election was held tomorrow. The only question would be around turning out the Dem base in the swing state metro areas. I think if the Repugs run Trump or some other fascist again in 2024 it will absolutely energize Dem voters to come out in just as strong a turnout. Biden's approval rating in a snap shot is not that important in the longrun, but interesting to see for turnout purposes. However it always needs to be taken into context of how those same 10% of voters view the alternative. The alternative being an insurrectionist or Trump himself says all you need to know.
I think what the "approval rating" swings seem to capture is gut feeling for how government in whole is working. The media telling them on a nightly basis that there is infighting between MODERATES VS PROGRESSIVES!! or DEMS IN DISARAY!! or CHAOS IN AFGHANISTAN!!! just creates a back of the mind gut feeling that something isn't working in DC, and Biden is charge so he must be doing something wrong. However this polling with lower information voters just is not capturing how they feel about Biden or previously with Trump Vs. the alternative. The 36% days of Trump were never factoring in Trump Vs Hillary and the 38% days of Biden are not factoring in Biden Vs. Trump
I never thought Biden was at 36%, he just isn't polarizing or offensive enough for that. He usually avoids extremism and even with his gaffs, most people do not think he is a bad guy. Still he hasn't handled somethings as well as he should have and he inherited an absolute mess between the former President, COVID and the growth of China.
I mean imagine being outraged by this (which is clearly a joke), and then at the same thinking the number one issue in America is Democrats getting offended too easy, and CANCELLING everything great in life. The Republican Nanny State is just out of control.