White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed Monday that President Biden’s public approval rating is falling largely because of the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic rather than the administration’s economic policies or priorities.
“Well, we think, one, there’s a couple factors,” Psaki said when asked to explain a Washington Post-ABC News poll published Sunday that showed Biden’s approval rating at 41 percent, with 53 percent of respondents disapproving.
“One is people are still — there’s a fatigue from COVID,” the press secretary added. “We see that in poll after poll … People are sick and tired of COVID and the impacts on the economy. We understand that; we’re tired of it too. That’s why this is the number-one priority, [it] continues to be getting COVID under control.”
Psaki’s remark recalled Biden’s campaign promise that if elected, he would bring the pandemic to heel. At one point during his second debate with then-President Donald Trump last fall, Biden famously vowed: “I’m going to shut down the virus, not the country.”
Although the US has made significant progress against the pandemic thanks to vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded seven-day averages of more than 80,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,000 deaths as of Sunday.
The Washington Post-ABC News survey was taken between Nov. 7 and Nov. 10, after the House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that received 63 percent support in the poll.
Psaki claimed Monday that the infrastructure legislation and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan enacted in March are “some of the most popular major pieces of legislation in the last 20 years” before lamenting that “our time has been consumed here by getting this bill across the finish line.”