ANALYSIS | Joe Biden’s numbers are collapsing among a group you wouldn’t expect

Inflation won’t go down as budget estimates, expert says 1:50 (CNN) — Young Americans have turned their backs on Joe Biden. That’s the startling finding of a Gallup analysis of its Biden tenure span poll released this week. In the early days of the Biden presidency (January 2021 to June 2021), an average of 6 in 10 adult members of Generation Z—born between 1997 and 2004—approved of the work Biden was doing. During the period between September 2021 and March 2022, that number had plummeted to an average of just 39%. Among millennials—those born between 1981 and 1996—the crash is just as severe. Biden’s approval rating among that group stood at 60% in aggregate Gallup figures in the first half of 2021, compared to 41% more recently. Interestingly, that loss of confidence among the young was not as pronounced among the older age groups. During that same period, Biden’s approval ratings among baby boomers — born between 1946 and 1964 — dropped just 7 points. Among “traditionalists”—those born before 1946—his approval rating did not change. Now part of the discrepancy is because younger Americans were much more positive about Biden at the start of his presidency than were older Americans. So there was more room to fall. At the same time, it is clear from other polls that there has been a significant decline in enthusiasm for Biden among younger Americans. A Quinnipiac poll released this week showed just 21% of 18-34-year-olds said they approved of the way the president was handling his job, while 58% disapproved. By comparison, 36% of Americans ages 35-49 and 35% of Americans ages 50-64 approved of Biden’s job performance. Among Americans 65 and older, 48% said the same. What explains Biden’s precipitous decline among young Americans? It’s hard to pinpoint a single reason, but there’s no question that the variance between what young people expected from a Biden presidency, particularly when it came to dealing with Covid-19, and what they got is substantial. As Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones noted: “By the summer [de 2021]when coronavirus cases unexpectedly increased, Biden had lost significant support among Gen Z, millennials and Gen X, with drops of seven to 10 percentage points.” Regardless of the reason, the decline in youth support for Biden is a major problem for Democrats. Especially when you consider that he won 60% of the youth vote — ages 18 to 34 — in the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls. It was by far his best performance among any age group. The point: There are plenty of reasons for Democrats to be concerned about the midterm elections. This finding is right at the top of that list.