New polling suggests President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have lost voters’ trust on important issues heading into the 2022 midterms, where the Republican Party is expected to pick up key seats.
Despite Biden’s temporary bump in national approval after defending Ukraine’s sovereignty in his recent State of the Union address, 57% of voters said they disapproved of his job performance amid inflation and high gas prices, according to new Wall Street Journal polling released Friday. The poll, which surveyed 1,500 known registered voters, was conducted online and via phone between March 2 and March 7 and had 2.5% margin of error.
Voters indicated they no longer trust the Democratic Party to handle COVID-19 and public education issues to the extent as in the WSJ’s previous November 2021 polling. While 41% still believe the Democratic Party is better equipped to handle the nation’s COVID-19 response, only 38% of voters believe the Democrats’ plan improves public education, the poll shows.
When asked about middle-class support, handling inflation and the struggling American economy, voters gave Biden and the Democratic Party a failing grade. Over 50% of voters said the economy and inflation should immediately be the federal government’s top issue.
More from the WSJ poll: R+5 on the generic ballot.
“46% of voters said they would back a Republican candidate for Congress if the election were today, compared with 41% who favored a Democrat, with Republicans gaining support among Black and Hispanic voters since the last poll”
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) March 11, 2022
“A majority of voters, 63%, said they disapprove of Mr. Biden’s handling of rising costs, the president’s worst rating on six policy issues surveyed in the poll,” the WSJ reported. “Meanwhile, 47% of voters said Republicans were better able to handle inflation, compared with 30% who preferred Democrats.”
Democratic strategist John Anzalone, the founder of Impact Research, said the results should worry Democrats going into the 2022 midterms, and that Americans are signaling that they are not buying Democrats’ messaging on important issues. “The mood of the country hasn’t gotten any better since the last poll. In fact, it’s gotten a little worse,” Anzalone warned the WSJ. (RELATED: ANALYSIS: Longtime Dem Operatives Conclude Party Dooms Itself In 2024 By Believing In ‘Three Persistent Myths’)
This is a 5-alarm fire for the Democratic party.https://t.co/pAyNmZ1ial pic.twitter.com/K6gg6Lt8ir
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) March 11, 2022
“This is a five-alarm fire for the Democratic Party,” said Tom Beaven, founder of Real Clear Politics.
The polling shows Republicans have a 5-point advantage over Democrats on which party voters would back if the candidate were running for Congress. The Democratic Party lost 9 points with Hispanic voters, who now say they would vote for a Republican over a Democrat.
Republican support also rose among black voters, according to the poll. The survey found black voters still prefer a Democratic candidate, but only by 35%, a significant drop from the 56% approval rating the party held among the same voters in the last poll, the WSJ reported.
Biden’s only bright spot has been his administration’s handling of Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, with voters giving him a 50% approval rating, the poll showed.
However, he took a dip in approval when the survey asked how Biden managed the overall crisis in Ukraine. Voters were divided, with 47% surveyed in the WSJ poll giving Biden positive marks on his job with Ukraine and 46% disapproving of how Biden dealt with the crisis.