In a brand new ABC News/Washington Post poll the liberal outlets released on Sunday, President Biden’s approval rating was supposedly sitting at an anemic 52 percent. And according to their methodology, the margin of error for the poll was 3.5 percent. Now given how that meant Biden could be below 50 percent, it was understandable that the cast of characters on ABC’s Good Morning America were floored by the results.
“52 percent of Americans approve of Joe Biden's work in office as he approaches the 100-day mark. That is ten points higher than Donald Trump at this point in his presidency, but 17 points lower than Barack Obama,” touted co-anchor Dan Harris, trying to put a positive spin on the floundering president. Of course, they failed to mention the margin of error.
Harris was speaking to ABC political director Rick Klein, who didn’t share his rosy outlook on the poll results.
“Dan, Biden's honeymoon appears to be ending, if it was even there in the first place,” Klein huffed. “What's so striking here is, you can at the same time say President Biden is in so much stronger position than his predecessor, but so much weaker than almost everyone else that we've seen at this point in a presidency.”
Despite the fact Harris had just boasted about Biden’s approval being “ten points higher” than Trump’s, Klein deduced that “the easiest culprit to blame here is partisanship.”
Klein added that the partisanship was “problematic for a president who has promised unity, has talked about bipartisanship, and has talked about Republican support that he sees out there in the country for his policy initiatives.” He went on to hope that Biden’s address to Congress on Wednesday would provide an “opportunity to sort of reset his presidency.”
Moving on, Harris noticed that after Biden’s high approval on handling the pandemic (64%) the numbers on different issues dropped precipitously, with his handling of immigration and the border crisis tanking at 37 percent. “So, do you think he can he turn that around? It sounds like you were saying ‘no,’” Harris asked, sounding appalled.
“But we see in this poll, deep skepticism about whether Biden is trying to grow government too large, too fast,” Klein explained. “A lot of concern about some of the scope of his programs, and some mixed messaging.”
And despite how the poll had a “two to one margin Americans say they want President Biden to make major concessions to try to get Republicans on board,” Klein suggested Republicans were the problem. “But of course, no Republicans voted for that COVID bill.”
But of course Rick, Biden didn’t make any “major concessions.”
Another interesting point to know was the difference in how ABC and The Washington Post were presenting their findings to the public. The headline to ABC’s online article (linked above) matched their on-air panic, reading: “Biden's 100 days: Low-end approval, yet strong marks on pandemic response: POLL”
For The Post’s part, knowing many people don’t read past the headline on social media, their online headline read: “Americans give Biden mostly positive marks for first 100 days, Post-ABC poll finds.”
ABC’s coverage of the Biden’s bad poll numbers was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Disney and GEICO. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
April 25, 2021
8:13:25 a.m. EasternDAN HARRIS: We have newly released numbers this morning from an ABC News/Washington Post poll. Look at this. 52 percent of Americans approve of Joe Biden's work in office as he approaches the 100-day mark. That is ten points higher than Donald Trump at this point in his presidency, but 17 points lower than Barack Obama. So, let's bring in our ABC News political director, Rick Klein. Rick, good morning. What's your take on these top-line numbers from the poll?
RICK KLEIN: Dan, Biden's honeymoon appears to be ending, if it was even there in the first place. What's so striking here is, you can at the same time say President Biden is in so much stronger position than his predecessor, but so much weaker than almost everyone else that we've seen at this point in a presidency. And the easiest culprit to blame here is partisanship.
We've never before seen in polling not even 100 days in, in the Trump administration, partisan divides dominate the approval of a president or disapproval of a president like we are right now for President Biden. And that, of course, is problematic for a president who has promised unity, has talked about bipartisanship, and has talked about Republican support that he sees out there in the country for his policy initiatives.
You're starting to see that slip away. And for a president now at 100 days who's going to give that big speech on Wednesday, his opportunity to sort of reset his presidency, there aren't a lot of numbers here to suggest that the country writ large, Republicans as well as Democrats are embracing what Biden is trying to do.
HARRIS: Let me just follow up on that because if we dig deeper into the numbers, we see that while President Biden gets reasonably high marks for his handling of the pandemic, it’s 64 percent, the numbers drop quite dramatically when it comes to his $2 trillion stimulus plan, as well as his work on immigration and the situation southern border. So, do you think he can he turn that around? It sounds like you were saying no.
KLEIN: That's the central challenge that he faces right now for this next phase of his administration. Look, for the view a lot of folks at the White House, a lot of Democrats, even many Republicans, if you don't get COVID right, then there's no sense trying to do anything else. That is the biggest thing. So, if you can get that under control, then you have the opportunity to build on that.
But we see in this poll, deep skepticism about whether Biden is trying to grow government too large, too fast. A lot of concern about some of the scope of his programs, and some mixed messaging. Two to one margin Americans say they want President Biden to make major concessions to try to get Republicans on board. But of course, no Republicans voted for that COVID bill.
HARRIS: Rick Klein, thank you so much for your analysis on a Sunday morning. Really appreciate it.
