According to a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday, Biden's approval rating has risen from 41 percent in June to 48 percent, marking the highest level he has achieved in this poll since taking office. Notably, 84 percent of respondents agreed that Biden's decision to step aside was the right one. The poll was conducted entirely after the Democratic National Convention, where Biden was praised for passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. Some analysts attribute the rise in his popularity to a post-convention "bounce." David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, suggests that Biden's withdrawal from the race has allowed voters to assess his presidency in its entirety, rather than focusing solely on his current performance. “He’s taken himself out of [the election], he’s entered legacy territory with some voters, they’ve seen he’s passing the torch,” Paleologos told HuffPost. “So in that sense, it’s not point in time job approval, it’s more the totality of his administration over the last four years.” Paleologos likened Biden to a retiring athlete receiving one final ovation from a hometown crowd: “You forget the bad games and you remember the time when the athlete performed to your liking or exceeded your expectations. It’s the same kind of dynamic.” A Quinnipiac University poll released last week also shows Biden at his highest approval rating since mid-2021, with 45 percent of likely voters approving of the 81-year-old president’s job performance. Additionally, a recent Gallup poll reported Biden’s best numbers since 2022, reflecting a rise from a 36 percent approval rating before he exited the race to 43 percent in polling conducted through Aug. 20. Biden’s team credits the surge to a growing appreciation among voters for his leadership, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. "President Biden moved us successfully out of a once-in-a-century pandemic, restored an economy that was flat on its back when he took office to the strongest in the world, and strengthened alliances that strained under Trump," White House communications director Ben LaBolt told Fox News Digital. "More Americans are recognizing that he led us successfully out of a series of crises and is planting the seeds for a prosperous future."President Joe Biden is experiencing some of his highest approval ratings in years after announcing his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
