Biden's slumping approval rating bounces back from record low

U.S. President Joe Biden's public approval rating rose six percentage points this week to 42%, rebounding from a week earlier when it sank to the lowest level of his presidency, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Wednesday found.

The two-day national poll found that 52% of Americans disapprove of Biden's job performance.

Biden's approval rating has been below 50% since August, raising alarms that his Democratic Party is on track to lose control of at least one chamber of Congress in the Nov. 8 midterm election.

Biden has been dogged this year by a surge in inflation, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine helping drive fuel prices higher and global supply chains still hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president's popularity within his own party rose to 78% from 72% the prior week. Only 12% of Republicans approve of his performance in office.

Biden's overall approval rating last week rivaled the lows of his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose popularity bottomed out at 33% in December 2017.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English throughout the United States. The latest poll gathered responses from a total of 1,005 adults, including 435 Democrats and 371 Republicans. It has a credibility interval - a measure of precision - of four percentage points.