Biden approval rating at 38 percent in North Carolina: poll

President Biden’s approval rating is at 38 percent in the battleground state of North Carolina, while about a quarter of respondents think the country is on the right track, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by High Point University, found that 38 percent of North Carolinians polled approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, compared to 48 percent who disapprove. Fourteen percent of respondents said they do not know or refused to respond.

A majority of North Carolinians also said they believe things in the country have gotten off track: 60 percent of respondents said the U.S. is on the wrong track, with only 28 percent saying the country is headed in the right direction.

The low polling numbers come as Biden is grappling with a series of crises: fallout from the U.S.’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rapid spread of the highly infectious delta variant, legislative headaches on Capitol Hill as lawmakers work to pass key parts of his agenda, and a surge of Haitian migrants seeking entry into the U.S. in Texas.

North Carolina voters were nearly split in the 2020 presidential election. Then-President Trump won by just 1.3 percent, which was equivalent to nearly 75,000 votes, according to The New York Times.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents in the new poll said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan, with only 25 percent approving.

On COVID-19, 46 percent of North Carolinians said they disapprove of the job Biden is doing, compared to 42 percent who approved.

A majority of respondents also disapproved of Biden’s handling of health care, the economy and his duties as commander in chief.

The president is also seeing a dip in his approval numbers nationwide, with a number of recent polls showing that more Americans are beginning to disapprove of the job he is doing.

Last week, a Gallup poll found that Biden’s approval rating for his first eight months in office had dipped to 43 percent, which is the lowest level of support the group has seen for the president.

The North Carolina poll can serve as an early eye into how the state views the Biden administration, as attention already starts to turn to the 2024 presidential election.

Biden in March said his “expectation” is to run for reelection in 2024.

The poll surveyed 876 North Carolina residents between Sept. 10 and Sept. 24 via telephone and online interviews. The credibility interval is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.