President Biden’s Half-Century Political Career Comes to a Close
President Biden’s half-century political career is set to come to a close on Monday, as President-elect Trump is inaugurated and succeeds Biden in the White House. Despite having achieved a plethora of legislative victories and other achievements during his four years in the White House, Biden leaves office as one of the most unpopular presidents in the nation’s history.
In a farewell address to the nation, Biden aimed to cement his legacy as a president who pushed to stabilize politics at home while bolstering America’s leadership abroad, and as a leader who steered the nation out of the COVID-19 pandemic, made historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy, pumped up the economy, and made historic gains in job creation, and lowered prescription drug prices for millions of Americans.
However, Biden’s approval ratings remain well underwater, with the latest Fox News national poll showing him at 42% approval and 57% disapproval. The poll also found that 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden has been doing in the White House.
Many Americans view Biden’s presidency as a failure, with 61% of adults nationwide questioned in the CNN survey saying they see Biden’s presidency overall as a failure, and 44% of registered voters saying history will assess Biden as a failed president.
Biden’s inability to prevent Trump from returning to the presidency is also seen as a major factor in his low approval ratings. In an open letter to the American people, Biden appeared to acknowledge that he wasn’t able to follow through on the integral pledge from his 2020 campaign.
The latest polls also indicate that many Americans view Biden’s presidency as a failure, with 36% of Americans approving of the job Biden has been doing in the White House, and 61% saying they see his presidency overall as a failure.
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville told Fox News that “the Joe Biden story is one of the great tragedies of American politics. I really mean that. He should be having a glorious, well-deserved, highly acclaimed retirement. And he’s not.”
Despite the negative views of the soon-to-be former president, Biden’s friends and supporters feel that the negative views of Biden will shift over time. John MacNeil, a longtime Democratic consultant and Biden supporter, told Fox News that “Biden, because of some of the legislation that he was able to muscle through, is going to look pretty good. The fruits of some of what Biden accomplished are only going to become visible over the next few years.”
However, MacNeil also acknowledged that Biden may be “seen as just a hiccup between Trump one and Trump two. That is something that historians will talk about.”