A recent poll done by Biden-friendly network CNN has found that only one-third of Americans would like to see him reelected to the Oval Office for a second term in 2024.
The March poll suggests that just before the uptick in positive views of Biden that had seemed to have been sparked by Democrats outperforming expectations in the 2022 midterms have stalled.
The poll finds Biden’s approval rating at 42% overall, with 57% disapproving. In January, 45% approved, and 55% disapproved. However, that shift falls within the poll’s margin of error and is not statistically significant.
The poll also found negative views of Biden persist across several personal attributes, with majorities saying he does not have the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president (67%), does not inspire confidence (65%), is not honest and trustworthy (54%) and does not care about people like them (54%).
Americans are more evenly split over whether Biden can work effectively with Congress – 48% say he can, and 51% that he cannot.
All told, just 32% say that Biden deserves reelection to the presidency, down 5 points since December. The largest shifts come among younger adults, with just 26% of those younger than 35 saying Biden deserves another term in the new poll, down from 36% in December, and among liberals, shifting from 63% saying he deserved reelection in December to now to 53%.
The new poll suggests an unusually large group of former Biden approvers now say that he does not deserve reelection. In September 2019, 3% of all Americans fell into that category for Trump, and just 5% did in March 2010 during Barack Obama’s presidency.
For Biden, the number of former voters who now say he does not deserve a second term is significantly higher — 11% approve of Biden’s handling of the presidency overall but still say he does not deserve to be reelected.
Despite this most recent CNN poll and others that put Biden’s approval ratings clearly in negative territory, he has repeatedly said that he intends to seek a second term in the White House, but he has yet to make any formal announcements.
However, the president hinted towards a reelection campaign during a speech in early February to party leaders and activists at the DNC’s winter meeting in Philadelphia, when he emphasized that “we’re just getting started” and that “I intend to get… more done.”
The 80-year-old Biden made history in 2020 as the oldest person elected president in American history. If he runs and wins reelection, Biden would be 82 at the time of his second inaugural and 86 at the end of the second term.
This is perhaps why just 32% of respondents to the CNN poll said Biden has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president, with two-thirds disagreeing.