Biden approval rises to 44 per cent with midterms less than four weeks away

With fewer than four weeks left until Americans choose who will control both chambers of Congress and most governor’s mansions and state legislatures, a new poll shows President Joe Biden’s approval rating jumping six points from the low point it hit over the summer.

The survey of 1982 adults — commissioned by CNN and conducted from 3 September to 5 October by SSRS — found 44 per cent of respondents approving of Mr Biden’s job performance. That’s a six-point rebound from the 38 per cent who approved of the president in July and August.

Despite the rising approval for the 46th president, the survey also found more than half of voters — 56 per cent — disapproved of how he’s doing his job.

Mr Biden’s middling numbers appear to be largely driven by Americans’ view of the country’s economic outlook, with just 22 per cent of respondents saying they believe economic conditions in the US are good.

Another 41 per cent said conditions are somewhat poor, with 37 per cent saying they are very poor. And just 32 per cent of those surveyed said they approve of how Mr Biden is handling inflation (still a rise from a quarter of respondents over the summer) and 36 per cent say they approve of his handling of the economy writ large.

A full 50 per cent of those surveyed blame Mr Biden’s policies for the poor economic conditions, while the remaining half of respondents were split between those who believe his policies have improved things — 26 per cent — and the remaining 24 per cent who say they’ve done nothing to improve or hurt the economy.

Yet at the same time, a significant number of those surveyed — 40 per cent — appeared optimistic about the future by responding that they expect economic conditions to be better a year from now.

The optimistic respondents were mostly Democrats, with 63 per cent of them saying they expect an improving economic outlook 12 months from now.

Two years after Mr Biden denied Donald Trump a second term in the White House, Democrats appear poised to lose control of the House of Representatives and may give up their control of the 50-50 Senate as well.

Mr Biden says he believes he can beat Mr Trump once more should the ex-president decide to mount a third campaign for the presidency in 2024, but he told CNN on Tuesday that he would not make a decision on whether to run for re-election until after the midterms.