President Joe Biden's approval rating has been sinking over the past few months as voters consider his performance over the last three-plus years, and now it has reached the lowest point of his presidency once again, tying a number set two years ago after starting out positive when he first took office.

Only 36% of voters approve of Biden's job performance as president in the newest Reuters/Ipsos poll, which ties his previous low in July 2022.

The rating dropped two points since last month. Voters are concerned about Biden's age and mental decline, but that probably wouldn't matter if the country were perceived as doing well economically and well-regarded around the world.

Biden's policies such as spending trillions of dollars on COVID rescue programs that probably weren't needed caused the highest inflation the U.S. has seen in 40 years.

Policy problems

He has also allowed millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. after crossing the southern border illegally, which has contributed to housing shortages, unemployment and rising federal debt.

In addition, many have criticized his foreign policy decisions, such as pulling out from Afghanistan in a rushed way that got 13 soldiers killed and left thousands of Americans behind.

The ongoing aid to Ukraine and Israel has also been unpopular with some voters for different reasons.

His wobbly flip-flopping on support for Israel's action against Hamas in Gaza has made pretty much everyone unhappy.

Trump doing better

Biden's presumptive opponent, former President Donald Trump, got higher ratings than him on the economy, with 40% approval for Trump and 30% for Biden. Trump was also preferred 42% to 25% on immigration.

Trump was also preferred 36% to 29% on the issue of foreign relations and terrorism.

It's not a good trend for Biden, who was no doubt counting on voters antipathy for Trump to push voters in his direction like it did in 2020.

He didn't realize that voters have short memories and that Trump's job performance outside of COVID would look pretty good compared to his.

The spin

The Associated Press is already spinning and throwing out misinformation about economic growth under both presidents, and other media outlets will no doubt beat the drum as well.

The outlet put out numbers claiming that the economy under Trump grew at only 2.65% after inflation (excluding the pandemic), but said that Biden's economy has grown 3.4%, without giving any adjustment for inflation.

Considering that cumulative inflation under Biden has been conservatively measured at 19.4%, or an average of over 5% a year, Biden's growth rate would be negative.