Blue Wave Crashing? New Poll Shows Biden Approval Back in the 30s; Abortion a Low Priority Even for Democrats

 A new Reuters/Ipsos poll appears to show the August Biden boom has gone bust while the Democrats’ hopes that abortion would create a blue wave in November are crashing.

Biden in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, screen image.

Biden is at 38 percent approval, down from 41 percent last week. Biden’s disapproval is at 58 percent with 69 percent saying the country is on the wrong track and only 39 percent of Democrats saying the country is on the right track.

Among the “most important issues facing America”, the “end of national abortion rights” only rated 5 percent among all respondents, Republicans 2 percent, independents 3 percent and Democrats just 11 percent.

The economy leads among all respondents at 29 percent, crime is second at 9 percent, the ‘environment and climate’ is third at 8 percent and the healthcare system is at 6 percent, then abortion at 5 percent. 

The poll was taken this week. Even with a Democrat leaning poll Biden couldn’t crack 40 percent approval: “These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 29-30, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 449 Democrats, 357 Republicans, and 128 independents.”

An example of how abortion is failing as an issue is in Missouri where Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt has a double digit lead over Democrat opponent Trudy Busch Valentine in the U.S. Senate race even though a majority of Missouri voters supposedly support abortion.

Excerpt via the Kansas City Star:

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has established a double digit lead in the U.S. Senate race against Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine, according to a new poll from Saint Louis University.

…The poll released Friday by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that 49% of those surveyed supported Schmitt, while 38% of respondents favored Busch Valentine. The survey of 900 likely Missouri voters was conducted between Aug. 8 and 16. It has a margin of error of 3.75%. The poll asked voters to weigh in on the Senate race and a host of other issues, including the state’s abortion ban.

While the poll showed Schmitt has a strong lead in the race, a majority of respondents were in favor of some level of legal abortion and disagreed with the state’s ban on abortion.

It found that 58% of those surveyed supported a woman’s right to an abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy compared to 32% who disagreed. It also showed that 75% of respondents agreed that a women should be able to get an abortion in a cases of rape and 79% supported abortions in cases of incest.

The state’s abortion ban does not include exceptions for rape or incest, making Missouri one of a dozen states with trigger laws that don’t allow abortions in those circumstances. Only a single exception, for medical emergencies, was included.

End excerpt. Please read the complete Kansas City Star article at this link.

The Saint Louis University-YouGov poll also shows Biden’s approval in Missouri stands at 36 percent with 62 percent disapproval.

The poll asked what should be the top priority of the Missouri state government. 51 percent said the economy, followed by healthcare at 16 percent, infrastructure at 14 percent, education at 11 percent and other at 8 percent. Abortion didn’t even make the cut.

Rasmussen reported last Friday the Republicans hold a five point lead on the generic Congressional poll (excerpt):

The 2022 midterm elections are now 74 days away, and Republicans still have a five-point lead in their bid to recapture control of Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, if the elections for Congress were held today, 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican candidate, while 42% would vote for the Democrat. Just four percent (4%) would vote for some other candidate, but another eight percent (8%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The GOP lead is unchanged from last week, when they led 46%-41%. Republicans have led the Generic Congressional Ballot all year, although their lead has narrowed since mid-July.