US president Joe Biden's public approval rating fell for a fourth straight week to 36 per cent matching its lowest level last seen in late May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Wednesday.
The president's approval rating has stayed below 50 per cent since August, a warning sign that his Democratic Party could lose control of at least one chamber of the US Congress in the November 8th midterm elections.
Thirty-four percent of Americans say the economy is the most important issue currently facing the United States. Mr Biden has been plagued by 40-year-highs in inflation, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine restricting global fuel supply and supply chains still constrained by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among his own party, Mr Biden's approval rating remains largely unchanged since last week - at 73 per cent compared to 74 per cent on June 15th. In August, 85 per cent of Democrats approved of Mr Biden's performance.
But among Republicans, Mr Biden's rating slipped to 7 per cent compared to 11 per cent on June 15th. Only 18 per cent of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction.
Mr Biden's approval rating is approaching - but has not yet reached - the lowest levels seen by his predecessor, Donald Trump, who had a 33 per cent approval rating in December 2017.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English throughout the United States. The most recent poll gathered responses from 1,002 adults, including 435 Democrats and 379 Republicans. It has a credibility interval - a measure of precision - of four percentage points.
