Newsmax White House correspondent James Rosen pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on ignoring President Joe Biden’s “dismal” approval ratings.
Rosen cited the White House and the president repeatedly discrediting polling when it displays low approval numbers regarding his job performance ahead of the 2024 presidential election. He then said the White House believes polls only when they are favorable to the president.
“Whenever you’re asked about the president’s dismal job approval ratings, you say, ‘we’re not gonna look at polls, we look at his accomplishments,'” Rosen said. “And yet, when you are asked about various domestic policy initiatives, you will say these poll very well. People support what the president wants to do. If you look at the individual subjects in the polling, they support what the president’s agenda is. So once and for all, are only certain polls valid in your eyes, the ones that support your agenda or is the polling data that shows that President Biden has been stuck for two years at the low 40s in his approval ratings, are those valid?”
“So here’s the thing, I think it’s important to share that American people do approve of some of the president’s initiative,” Jean-Pierre answered. “I think it is important. I think it is important for the American people to hear that when it comes to medicare and fighting, and being able to — medicare — to be able to lower costs for the American people, I think it’s important to share that. I think it’s important to share that when it comes to social security, medicare, medicaid, the American people care about that and want us to fight about that, fight for it, which is what the president is doing.”
The press secretary gave a long list of things the American people want Biden to do, including lowering costs amid continuing inflation. (RELATED: Biden’s Approval Rating Remains Near All-Time Low)
Rosen then asked about polls showing that a majority of Democrats believe that Biden is too old to run for a second term. The president turned 81 on Monday. The press secretary said it will take time for Americans to be able to “feel” all of what Biden has accomplished.
“All of these dismal polls, his job approval ratings, does the White House have any basis to challenge the accuracy of that polling?” Rosen asked.
“We never challenge, I am not challenging the accuracy here. That’s not what I’m doing,” the press secretary replied. “What I am saying to you is that, you know, we’re not gonna change the minds of Americans, I get that. Americans are gonna feel how they feel and we’re gonna respect that and I’ve said that many times from here, many times. I said that moments ago. What I can tell you is what our perspective is. What I can tell you is how we see things and we believe experience, this president having experience to get things done is important.”
“And we know that it is going to take some time, right, for Americans to feel what we have been able to do in this administration,” she added.
She pointed to historic polling showing former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton having low approval ratings a year before their reelections. Gallup data found Clinton’s approval ratings stood between 47% and 51% in 1995, a year before the 1996 election, and Obama’s stood in the low 40s in 2011, while his disapproval reached the 50s and high 40s.
Biden’s approval ratings have remained steadily low through his presidency, typically ranging into the high 30s and low 40s. His current approval rating stands at 39.5% as of Monday, while his disapproval rating is 55%, according to FiveThirtyEight. His economic approval rating sunk to the lowest in his entire presidency in early October, with only 24% of those surveyed approving of his performance, an Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) poll found.