By Dave Andrusko
There are many ways to measure the status of the battle between pro-abortion President Joe Biden and pro-life former President Donald Trump.
We’ve written about them many times. There’s Mr. Biden’s basic job approval which hovers around 40%, give or take a point or two.
Gallup has his job approval at an average of 38.7%. “None of the other nine presidents elected to their first term since Dwight Eisenhower had a lower 13th-quarter average than Biden,” according to Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones,
His approval on the major issues is abysmal. At best, Biden comes in with 45% support. At worst the approvals are economy (34%) and inflation (29%). As CNN reported these numbers
remain starkly negative, as voters say economic concerns are more important to them when choosing a candidate than they were in each of the past two presidential contests. In the new poll, 65% of registered voters call the economy extremely important to their vote for president, compared with 40% who felt that way in early 2020 and 46% who said the same at roughly this point in 2016. Those voters who say the economy is deeply important break heavily for Trump in a matchup against Biden, 62% to 30%.
Biden’s numbers are falling with younger people, Hispanics, and whites without a college degree.
But there are other crucially important aspects as well. Leadership, for example, is arguably at the top.
“A majority of Americans see former President Donald Trump as a strong leader, while most see President Joe Biden as a weak leader, according to a poll,” Nick Gilbertson reports.
The Economist/YouGov poll published on Wednesday asked respondents to classify Trump and Biden’s leadership qualities.
A majority of 58 percent of all adult respondents say Trump is a strong leader, including a plurality of 35 percent who see him as “very strong.” Trump is up one point in this department from a March Economist/YouGov poll that Breitbart News reported on.
The remaining 42 percent of respondents see Trump as a weak leader to varying degrees, including 32 percent who say he is “very weak.”
Conversely, Americans overwhelmingly say Biden has weak leadership qualities. A strong majority (64 percent) say Biden is a weak leader. Moreover, 45 percent of all poll participants regard Biden as “very weak.”
That 64 percent view Biden as a weak leader marks a four-point increase from March’s poll, signaling Americans are further losing confidence in him.
One other quick but telling point. Hannah Knudsen writes
A plurality believes President Joe Biden is “getting worse” as president, April’s survey from Harvard-Harris found.
The survey asked respondents, “Do you think Joe Biden is improving as a president, getting worse, or staying the same?”
A plurality, 47 percent, says Biden is actually “getting worse” as president, while just 29 percent believe he is improving. About a quarter, 24 percent, believe he is “staying the same.”
We’ll return to this topic on Monday.