53% of Georgia voters are unhappy with Joe Biden’s performance

President Joe Biden’s approval rating in Georgia – nationally regarded as one of several key swing states in the 2022 midterm election and the presidential race in 2024 – is declining, according to a new survey.

A Civiqs survey released last week show 53% of Georgia voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, compared to 40% who do approve and 7% nether approving nor disapproving.

Nationally, 50% of voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, while just 42% approve, and 8% neither approving nor disapproving.

Civiqs surveyed 1,271 registered voters from Aug. 28-31, 2021. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. 

The survey results were weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The survey has a margin of error of plus/minus 2.8%.

Biden also has a disapproval rating of 10 points or more in four other key swing states – Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. In 2020, Biden won Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania on his way to a White House victory, and narrowly lost Florida and North Carolina.

“President Biden has not been successful at improving his standing among non-Democrats,” a Civiqs analysis of the survey said. “Just 13% of Independents and 2% of Republicans have a better opinion of Biden now than when he took office.

“Nearly half (47%) of Americans say that their opinion of President Biden has gotten worse since he took office in January,” the analysis said. “Among those are many core or potential Biden supporters, including 12% of Democrats and 51% of Independents. Most Democrats (52%) say that their opinion of Biden is unchanged since January, although 35% have an improved opinion of Biden.

“Biden has also struggled to win over young voters. Only 9% of voters aged 18-34 say that their opinion of Biden has gotten better since he took office. In contrast, 27% of voters aged 65 or older have an improved opinion of President Biden this year.”

Some observers believe Biden’s declining approval rating is attributable to his withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s subsequent rapid takeover, the analysis said. “However, the change in Biden’s approval rating has been gradual, not sudden.

“Even now, 52% of Americans approve of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, versus only 35% who disapprove, a finding that is consistent across many other public opinion polls,” the analysis said.

“None of Biden’s flagship policies appear to have overwhelming disapproval, but most Americans do not feel that the efforts of the Biden administration have benefited them personally,” it said. “It is possible that Biden is not doing enough or is not addressing Americans’ most important problems. It is also possible that in a time of ongoing crises, President Biden’s job approval rating would be even lower if not for the relative popularity of his policy initiatives. As it stands, President Biden is losing popular support, and to the extent that voters approve of his policy positions, it has not been enough to stop or reverse that trend.”

This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.