President Joe Biden‘s approval rating has not changed amid the discovery of classified documents in his Delaware home and former private office.
A Jan. 20-22 survey from Morning Consult shows that 43% of voters approve of Biden’s job performance, in line with his ratings at the end of December, before the documents’ discovery was revealed to the public in early January.
FORMER PRESIDENTS COY ON CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS AS SENATOR SUGGESTS ‘THEY’RE ALL SITTING ON STUFF’
His standing among Democrats, Republicans, and independents has virtually not changed, with 4 in 5 Democrats approving of his job performance and 92% of Republicans and 61% of independents disapproving of the way he serves as president.
His disapproval rating at 55% among all voters has stayed the same since the Jan. 5-8 survey, when it dipped 1 percentage point from the end of December.
The documents’ discovery could be a headache for Biden as he weighs a 2024 reelection campaign after both Democrats and Republicans have come out to condemn the situation. However, recent revelations that former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Jimmy Carter were both in possession of classified documents could soften the blow.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Biden, who criticized former President Donald Trump for storing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, has lost any “moral high ground” in the discussion.
Nearly half of voters (49%) reported they have heard something negative about Biden in the news, up 40% from the end of December, per the poll. From Jan. 8 to Jan. 15, the percentage of Democrats hearing negative news went from 13% to 31%, and from 39% to 58% for independents.
Pence’s team alerted the National Archives to two boxes of possible classified documents at his Indiana home on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, reports came out of Carter’s camp that the 39th U.S. president had discovered classified documents at his Georgia home “on at least one occasion.”
The flurry of revelations about mishandled documents started in August, when the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, discovering roughly 300 classified files.
The discoveries are causing Capitol Hill to wonder if other documents might be found in former presidents’ or vice presidents’ possession if a sweep was conducted at their homes or offices.
Former President Bill Clinton’s office previously told the Washington Examiner that all classified materials were turned over to the National Archives in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.
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Following the discovery at Biden’s Delaware home, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) requested visitor logs from the White House and Secret Service, something that the White House says it does not possess.
The survey was conducted Jan. 20-22, 2023, with a sample of 1,990 registered voters and a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
