Americans are giving President Biden and Democrats their highest marks in a year, but don’t get too excited just yet.
Biden’s high-water mark is still just a 40 percent approval rating, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
That is nine points better than where Biden was back in July, but even so, 52 percent don’t like the job that Biden is doing.
That’s mostly Republicans, only 5 percent of whom approve of Biden. Democrats split 83-10 toward approval, and independents are 55-36 in favor of approval.
A big plus for Biden in recent weeks was his rollout of a plan to relieve up to $20,000 in student loan debt. Americans favor the plan by a 53-43 margin.
Again, Republicans are the ones who don’t like the plan, with only 14 percent approving.
There’s also an age gap on the student debt issue. People 18-34 approve by a 69-26 margin, and 35-49s approve by a 58-39 margin.
Older folks – 50-64s (44-54) and 65+ (41-54) – disapprove.
White adults also disapprove by a 52-45 margin.
So, basically, old, white Republicans don’t like the debt relief plan, and everybody else does.
DOJ investigation of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, who said this week that he should just be declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, because of course he did, isn’t faring well with Americans at all.
Fifty-nine percent think Trump acted inappropriately in the way he handled classified documents after leaving the White House, and 64 percent think the allegations involving his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House are either very serious (49 percent) or somewhat serious (15 percent).
And by a 50-41 margin, Americans think Trump should be prosecuted.
You’re going to be surprised to hear that it’s mostly Republicans who disagree there. Eighty-three percent of the “lock her up” crowd think Trump should not face criminal charges related to him squirreling away hundreds of classified documents.
2022 and 2024
People really don’t want another Biden-Trump election in 2024. Sixty-two percent don’t want Trump to run, and 67 percent don’t want Biden to run again.
Even Democrats are split 47-43 in favor of Biden running for a second term.
That’s actually an improvement over July, when Democrats were 54-40 for Biden to not run again.
The nearer-term election, the 2022 midterm, is tracking better for Democrats, who have a slight 45-44 edge in the generic House poll, and a 47-45 edge in the generic Senate poll.
The reason to not get too excited about those numbers: the House and Senate are gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.
Democrats need to have clear majorities in the generic polling to have a chance at bare majorities in the elections.
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Chris Graham
