Amid Debt Crisis, Ratings of Biden, Congress Still Low

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Amid tense negotiations to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling and avoid default, President Joe Biden’s latest job approval rating of 39% is just two percentage points higher than his personal low recorded last month. Meanwhile, Americans’ approval of the job Congress is doing has edged up four points since April but remains lackluster, at 20%. …

Mentions of the federal budget or debt as the most important problem facing the U.S. ticked up this month to 5%, from 2% in April. While it is rare for more than 2% of Americans to cite this category of concerns, it rose to as high as 20% in 2013 and 17% in 2011 during previous debt ceiling showdowns. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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Why the GOP Wants to Rob Gen Z to Pay the Boomers

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The budget cuts that House Republicans are demanding in their high-stakes debt-ceiling standoff with President Joe Biden sharpen the overlapping generational and racial conflict moving to the center of U.S. politics.

The House GOP’s blueprint would focus its spending cuts on the relatively small slice of the federal budget that funds most of the government’s investments in children and young adults, who are the most racially diverse generations in American history. …

The GOP’s deficit agenda opens a new front in what I’ve called the collision between the brown and the gray—the struggle for control of the nation’s direction between kaleidoscopically diverse younger generations that are becoming the cornerstone of the modern Democratic electoral coalition and older cohorts that remain predominantly white and anchor the Republican base. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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Fox News Poll: Voters say border security is worse compared to two years ago

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Two weeks after the pandemic-era Title 42 border restrictions ended, President Biden received his lowest marks to date on border safety with six in 10 American voters preferring the limits had remained. In addition, just over half (51%) of registered voters in a new Fox News survey say security at the border has gotten worse in the past two years, while only 11% think it has gotten better. …

Overall, Biden’s ratings on border security are in negative territory by 30 points — 33% approve and 63% disapprove. These are his lowest marks to date on the issue. CONTINUED

Victoria Balara, Fox News

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Fox News Poll: Views on the economy are going from bad to worse

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Inflation continues to be the top concern for voters as large numbers rate both the nation’s economy and their individual finances negatively. That’s according to a new Fox News survey that contains little good news for an incumbent president running for re-election.

Some 83% of voters say the economy is in only fair or poor shape.

That’s more negative by 5 points compared to last month (78%) and worse by 14 points compared to President Biden’s 100-day mark in April 2021 (69%).

Another 66% give their personal financial situation negative marks, up from 58% in December. CONTINUED

Dana Blanton, Fox News

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Three years after Floyd’s death, a reckoning for Biden’s agenda on race

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Three years after the murder of George Floyd sparked global protests and led then-candidate Joe Biden to endorse a broad platform of racial justice initiatives, the president is under pressure to prove to Black voters that he enacted as much of his equity agenda as possible — and that he remains committed to delivering for his most loyal supporters in a second term.

While Biden continues to receive relatively high marks from Black voters, he has not yet convinced most that his policies have improved their lives, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll of more than 1,200 Black Americans. About a third of Black Americans (34 percent) say Biden’s policies have helped Black people, while 14 percent say they have hurt and 49 percent think they have made no difference, according to the Post-Ipsos poll. CONTINUED

Toluse Olorunnipa, Scott Clement & Emily Guskin, Washington Post

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Biden has a lead over Democratic primary challengers, but faces headwinds overall

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President Joe Biden’s bid for a second term begins with a wide advantage over his declared opponents for the Democratic nomination, but he faces headwinds among the overall public from declining favorability and a widespread view that his reelection would be more negative than positive for the country, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Just a third of Americans say that Biden winning in 2024 would be a step forward or a triumph for the country (33%). At the same time, the survey finds a decline in favorable views of Biden over the past six months, from 42% in December to 35% now. CONTINUED

Jennifer Agiesta, CNN

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