PRESIDENT[ISH] BIDEN'S FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

The data is from Rasmussen's Presidential Approval Index, recorded daily since his inauguration.

The approval index is the difference between those who strongly approve of the President's performance and those who strongly disapprove, usually about 30% of those polled each. Note that he has never had a positive index.

Here is the subset of those polled who approve his performance. Biden started 50-50, then mid-year started the drift down to where he is now -- about 40%. The strong approvals have declined more rapidly, from 35% or so initially to 20% today.

The bottom line is the difference between 'approve' and 'strongly approve', which has steadily increased. Not only are fewer people approving the President's performance, even fewer are strongly approving. Time's arrow is clearly moving the wrong way for the Biden administration.

Next up is the subset of those polled who disapprove of his performance. The trend is clear, up about 10%, starting mid-year. What is somewhat startling is that the difference between 'disapproval' and 'strong disapproval' is relatively constant at about 10%. For every increase in 'disapproval' there is a corresponding increase in 'strong disapproval'.

What is somewhat surprising is that the indifferent, that is, those neither strongly approving nor strongly disapproving, has slightly increased, from about 25% to around 30% today. I don't remember the originator (it was from the mid-60's drug culture) but the phrase "tune in, turn on, tune out" comes to mind.

Oh, well. It's clear that the first year of the Biden administration is a disaster; the interesting part will be whether the average American will continue to 'tune out' or the disapprovals will keep increasing. I will continue to hope for both.