As Biden, 80, gets a challenger his support plummets with DEMOCRATS and approval falls to the lowest since Jimmy Carter

• President Joe Biden attracted his first Democratic primary challenger who’s held elected office, Rep. Dean Phillips
• At the same time, Biden’s support among Democrats has dropped 11 points since September, to the lowest of his presidency 
• Biden’s quarterly approval rating is lower than any post-World War II president except Jimmy Carter, who lost his reelection bid the next year  

As President Joe Biden gets a Democratic challenger in Rep. Dean Phillips, a new poll showed that his approval rating among Democrats has dropped 11 points in one month and is at the lowest of his presidency. 

While 75 percent of Democrats still approved of 80-year-old Biden, that number had stood at 86 percent in the September Gallup poll. 

Gallup’s October numbers, released Thursday, showed that Biden lost ground with independents too, going from 39 percent approval in September to 35 percent this month. 

His overall approval rating for the month stood at 37 percent, down from 41 percent in September and averaging 40 percent over the last quarter. 

That means that his quarterly average approval rating at this point in his presidency is lower than all but one of the post-World War II presidents, only beating Jimmy Carter, who had an average approval rating of 31.4 percent. 

Former President Donald Trump, who was also plagued by low approval numbers throughout his four years in office, was doing slightly better than Biden – averaging 40.7 percent. 

Both Carter and Trump lost their reelection bids. 

Carter attracted a Democratic primary opponent, Sen. Ted Kennedy, which he fended off, but went on to lose to Republican President Ronald Reagan the next year. 

Trump lost the 2020 race against Biden after mishandling the coronavirus pandemic response.  

Democratic President Barack Obama was averaging a 41 percent approval rating during this point in his administration and went on to win reelection against now Sen. Mitt Romney the following year. 

Obama’s numbers are the ones that Biden’s allies point to when Democratic fears are expressed. 

‘This is exactly where we were at this stage of that election cycle,’ Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, told The Atlantic in a story released Friday about Phillips’ primary challenge. Messina pointed to the cover of The New York Times Magazine from November 6, 2011 that read, ‘So, is Obama toast?’ 

‘If there was real concern, then you’d have real politicians running,’ Messina said. ‘I’d never heard of Dean Phillips until a few weeks ago.’ 

Phillips, a three-term Minnesota congressman, launched a bid Thursday night and filed to run on the New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot in Concord Friday morning, after months of trying to push more mainstream Gen-X Democrats into the race. 

The president’s poll numbers were what inspired Philips, 54, to jump into the race, especially The Wall Street Journal’s late August survey that said 73 percent of registered voters considered Biden too old. 

And then another poll by CNN from late September that said 67 percent of Democratic voters wanted someone other than Biden on the ballot in 2024,’ The Atlantic said. 

Gallup’s polling found that Democrats’ current rating of Biden is four points lower than Republicans’ lowest rating of Trump throughout the Republican’s entire presidency.  

The pollsters at Gallup surmised that Biden’s recent dip in Democratic support came from his handling of the Israel-Hamas war but warned there’s no way to fully prove that.  

Instead pointed to a survey that was released in February that found Democrats sympathized with Palestinians over Israelis for the first time in the poll’s 20-plus year history. 

Biden has shown steadfast support for Israel and the country’s right to defend itself, while not forcefully advocating for a ceasefire that could potentially save Palestinian lives, some Democrats have argued. 

Gallup’s pollsters noted that by looking at the daily presidential tracking numbers it was apparant that ‘Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel on the same day.’  

Gallup’s pollsters noted that by looking at the daily presidential tracking numbers it was apparent that ‘Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel on the same day.’