According to Mark Penn, the president and managing partner of Stagwell Group and a former strategist for Bill Clinton, President Joe Biden’s approval rating fell to 36% in the most recent Washington Post and ABC News poll because of his announcement to run for re-election. Penn shared his perspective with Fox News on Monday.
Penn joined America’s Newsroom hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino to discuss the latest poll results, which indicated that President Biden’s approval rating among adults was 36%, with 56% disapproving. This is a 20-point drop from the previous poll conducted in February by the Washington Post and ABC News, where his approval rating was 42%. Penn observed that this decline in approval is mainly seen among Democrats.
Penn said, “Well, when he drops here from 42 to 36 in approval in this poll, that’s all Democrats who are jumping ship and saying, ‘I don’t approve of the presidency he’s doing.’ And I think we’ve seen for a long time – look, the Harris polling showed the same thing for a long time – people question his fitness for continued office, most Democrats didn’t want him to run. But this poll has to send shockwaves; he just announced for the presidency. You’re supposed to go up when you announce, not down.”
When asked by Hemmer about the reason behind the 6-point decrease in approval rating, Penn cited Biden’s recent announcement of his reelection campaign.
A six point drop for Biden since February. Heartburn for breakfast at the White House this morning. https://t.co/knwqEZnLjg
— Phillip A. Orphanidis (@PhilOrpho) May 8, 2023
Penn went into more detail, saying, “I think that the announcement. I think that the fact that he said he’s running for president when less than 40% of Democrats really support his reelection. Remember, they rushed out this announcement. It was supposed to be in July. That would have given everyone an opportunity to see how he’s doing and not freeze the field. Instead, he froze the field in the Democratic Party, everybody’s got to support him now, and with numbers like this, they’re looking at a potential Titanic.”
As per CNN, President Biden’s approval rating of 36 percent is the lowest of any president in the last 80 years at this point in their first term.
In addition to the president’s low approval rating, a poll published on Sunday morning revealed that 63% of Americans do not believe that Biden possesses the mental acuity necessary to serve effectively as president. Similarly, 62% of Americans do not believe that his physical health is adequate for him to serve as president effectively, given that he is 80 years old.
