President Biden’s approval numbers have taken a hit in seven Democrat-controlled swing districts, according to a new poll commissioned by conservative advocacy group American Action Network released on Tuesday.
The survey — conducted by Remington Research Group — showed the president underwater by an average of 7 percentage points on the economy and 9 percent on foreign policy in the areas polled, which include California’s 10th Congressional District, Florida’s 7th Congressional District, Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, Michigan’s 8th and 11th Congressional Districts, Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District and Washington’s 8th Congressional District.
The surveys found that Biden and the Democrats’ plan to move forward with a $3.5 trillion social spending could prove to be a liability for the party’s members that serve in the battleground districts, with an average of just 36 percent approving on average to the 55 percent that said they disapprove of the proposal.
According to the poll, when asked whether they believed the $3.5 trillion in spending is “unnecessary and wasteful … in addition to the $6 trillion that has already been passed for COVID recovery and other programs,” just 35 percent of respondents said they believed the spending is necessary while 55 percent said they feel it is unnecessary.
The polling was conducted from Aug. 28-Aug. 30 in the seven districts, with 800 likely voters participating.
As House Republicans grow more optimistic about their odds of flipping the majority in the House in 2022, the poll found that Democratic representatives are also trailing behind generic Republican challengers by an average of 6 percent.
The numbers come shortly after Biden received criticism from both sides of the aisle on his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the GOP making inflation and lower-than-expected job growth central components of their messaging strategy as they look toward the 2022 midterm election cycle.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) — who represents an R+4 district on the Cook Partisan Voting Index scale — and Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa) —who holds an R+3 seat — are shown to be hit the hardest, with the poll showing them at a 9 percent disadvantage when matched up against a generic GOP candidate, with Biden receiving the lowest marks in their districts out of the seven surveyed.
The poll found Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.) down by 7 percent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) trailing by 6 percent, Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) down by 4 percent and a Republican leading by 3 percent in both Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Elaine Luria’s (D-Va.) districts.
Members with named challengers fared slightly better in the polls, showing them within the three-point margin of error, with Murphy up by 3 percent, Luria up one percent, Axne trailing by 2 percent and Schrier down by 1 percent.
