US President Joe Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 39 percent as more and more Americans show dissatisfaction with him due to high inflation and rising gas prices in the country, according to a new poll.
A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Tuesday found that 39 percent of Americans approve of Biden's job performance, just two weeks before US midterm elections that will shape the rest of this term.
Democrats are worried they could lose control of both chambers of Congress on November 8 which would give Republicans the power to bring Biden's legislative agenda to a halt. Biden's unpopularity is helping drive this view.
Biden's term has been marked by the economic scars of the global health crisis, including soaring inflation. Biden’s popularity hit a record low of 36 percent in May and June.
US consumer inflation hit a 40-year high of 8.6 percent in the 12 months through May, with gasoline marking a record high and the cost of food soaring, Labor Department data showed.
The surging costs have become a political headache for the Biden administration, which has tried several measures to lower prices but said much of the responsibility to control inflation falls to the Federal Reserve.
In the meantime, the Biden administration has been making efforts to bring down gas prices while continuously pinning blame on Russia.
Biden and his administration are concerned that the unharnessed high inflation in the United States, exacerbated by the rising fuel prices across the country, could lead to the defeat of the Democrats in the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, a majority of Democratic voters have said Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, according to a September poll.
The ABC News-Washington Post poll, produced by Langer Research Associates, found that 56 percent of Democratic voters oppose Biden’s reelection bid, while 9 percent said they had no opinion.