Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

On the contrary. You are truly helpless and hapless.

Fact check: Biden's approval rating is higher than Trump's term low

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/09/23/fact-check-bidens-approval-rating-higher-than-trumps-term-low/8347107002/

FiveThirtyEight put the polling average for Trump's approval rating at 38.8% on Sept. 9, 2017, his first year in office. The lowest point of his term came on Dec. 16, 2017, with an average approval rate of 36.4%.

"In the last month YouGov has also reported approval ratings of 44% and 50%," he said. "Taken as a group it is more accurate to say that Biden's rating is hovering in the mid-40s."

Other polls back that up. For example, a Sept. 1-17 Gallup poll put Biden's approval rating at 43%. And a Quinnipiac University Poll conducted Sept. 10-13 put Biden’s approval rate at 42%.

Polls put Trump’s approval rating lower

Despite the recent decline in Biden's approval, Trump's ratings were lower during his time in office.

"Biden's approval rating has clearly taken a turn for the worse in the past several weeks, but he is still faring better than Trump at this point in their presidencies," Burden said. "Trump had one of the lowest and steadiest approval ratings of any modern president."

FiveThirtyEight put the polling average for Trump's approval rating at 38.8% on Sept. 9, 2017, his first year in office. The lowest point of his term came on Dec. 16, 2017, with an average approval rate of 36.4%.

In other words, Trump's low is well below Biden's current level in YouGov polling.

According to Gallup, Trump’s approval rating ranged between 34% and 49% over the course of his presidency. Trump hit the lower end of that range in January, following the insurrection at the Capitol.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Biden’s approval rating is 39% and lower than Trump’s ever was.

One September poll from YouGov did show Biden's approval rating at 39%, though that was below where most other polls put his rating at that point. But there's no truth to the Trump comparison.

Trump's approval rating was at times well below that mark in YouGov polls and in polling averages, which experts say are the most accurate measure of a president's popularity.

FiftyThirtyEight's weighted polling average put Biden’s approval rating at 45.2% on the day the claim was made. That's higher than the lowest polling average for Trump's approval rating, which was 36.4% in December 2017.