President Joe Biden‘s approval rating remains lower than any Democratic president in 44 years despite Democrats‘ stronger-than-expected showing during the midterm elections.
Republicans cast the midterms as a referendum on Biden’s tenure as president. His approval rating took a hit during the summer, as high inflation and recession concerns fueled criticism of his economic policies. Republicans banked on high opposition to Biden to ride a “red wave” into congressional majorities during Tuesday’s midterms.
But that “red wave” never materialized despite Biden’s low approval numbers. Democrats held onto control of the U.S. Senate—and could even expand their majority depending on the results of Georgia’s runoff election—and appear poised to lose only a handful of seats in the House.
Biden’s approval rating currently sits at 41.7 percent, while 53.1 percent of Americans disapprove of his presidency, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate of polls. This marks an uptick from July, when his approval bottomed out at 37.5 percent.
However, Biden’s approval rating still remains lower than his most recent Democratic predecessors, who experienced more harrowing midterm losses compared to Biden.
At the same point in his presidency, President Barack Obama had an approval rating of about 45 percent. During Obama’s first midterm in 2010, Republicans flipped 63 House seats and six Senate seats, making the election one of the strongest “red waves” in recent history.
Former President Bill Clinton had an approval rating of 43.8 at this point in his presidency. Democrats lost 54 House seats and eight Senate seats in the 1994 midterm elections.
Former President Jimmy Carter had an approval rating of 51.9 percent after his first and only midterm election in 1978. Like Biden, he oversaw a stronger midterm election, losing only 15 House seats and three Senate seats.
For a more recent comparison, former President Donald Trump, a Republican, had an approval rating of 42.4 percent, only slightly higher than Biden, at the same point in his presidency. Republicans lost 41 House seats but gained two Senate seats during his 2018 midterm.
Biden’s approval rose throughout the early fall months but slightly declined in late October and early November as the midterms approached. But that drop was not sharp enough to give Republicans the wave they needed to win both chambers of Congress.
Control of the House, if Republicans ultimately win at least 218 seats, would still give them some check on his power.
Biden has celebrated Democrats’ midterm performance, notably with the loss of candidates who denied his 2020 Electoral College victory.
“There were a lot of concerns about whether democracy would meet the test,” Biden said at a DNC event last week. “It did.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
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