Former Clinton Pollster: Biden's Reelection Announcement Triggered Approval Rating Drop

Stagwell Group President and Managing Partner Mark Penn, who was formerly a strategist for former President Bill Clinton, told Fox News that he believes President Joe Biden’s approval rating dropped to 36 percent in the latest Washington Post and ABC News poll because he announced he is running for reelection.

Penn appeared on America’s Newsroom on Monday with anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino to discuss the poll, which shows Biden’s approval rating is 20 points underwater among adults, with 36 percent being satisfied with his performance and 56 percent disapproving. In February, another poll from the Washington Post and ABC News showed his approval rating at 42 percent. Penn noted that this loss of support is chiefly among Democrats.

“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,’” Penn explained. “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 Hemmer asked what may have been the catalyst for the six-point drop in approval, Penn pointed to Biden’s campaign announcement last month.

“I think that the announcement. I think that the fact that he said he’s running for president when less than 40 percent of Democrats really support his reelection,” Penn explained. “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.”

According to CNN, Biden’s 36 percent is lower than any other president at this point in his first term in the past 80 years.

The poll, published Sunday morning, also found that 63 percent of Americans do not believe Biden “has the mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president.” Moreover, 62 percent of Americans do not think the 80-year-old “is in good enough physical health to serve effectively as president.”

Additionally, it shows that former President Donald Trump leads Biden 49 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical general election match-up.

The poll sampled 1,006 American adults between April 28-May 3. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Related: CNN’s Bolduan: Biden Has Lowest Approval Rating of Any President “at This Point in Their First Term”


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