a year after Joe Biden came to power, the contrasting record of a president who gives “the feeling of disappointing”

The “honeymoon” lasted until the summer. Since August 2021, the popularity of American President Joe Biden has continued to fall, reaching 41.9% favorable opinions on Wednesday January 19, according to the poll aggregator of the site FiveThirtyEight*. A year after his inauguration, the Democrat remains more popular than his predecessor, Donald Trump, at this stage of his mandate. But reading certain headlines in the American press, one might think that the current tenant of the White House has so far aroused more resentment than enthusiasm.

In early December, a political scientist wondered in a column published by the New York Times* “why Biden’s presidency feels so disappointing”. At the same time, The world reported that “Joe Biden’s Democracy Summit Disappointed”. On immigration? “He disappointed”, ensures Vox *. The same is true of the Supreme Court* reform project, on the question of the closure of the Guantanamo* detention camp, the protection of civil rights* and the fight against the climate crisis*.

Did the US president really disappoint everyone in his first year in office? “The question is biased: you can only be disappointed if you had unfounded hopes”, judge Célia Belin, political scientist and guest researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Joe Biden was elected on the promise of restoring order to Washington and restoring the functioning of institutions.”

“He campaigned on the idea of ​​returning to a ‘normal’ president, who does what is expected of him, unlike the disruptive president that was Donald Trump.”

Célia Belin, political scientist

at franceinfo

From this point of view, it “remain true to himself and his commitment”, believes this specialist from the United States. But is that enough to satisfy voters? “He himself set the criteria for evaluating his policy by listing four priorities during his inauguration speech: economy, Covid-19, fight against racial injustice and climate, recalls David Smith, correspondent for the British daily The Guardian in Washington. On the last two files, the results are not yet there.

On the first part, on the other hand, the Democrat can be pleased with the vote of two historic texts in Congress: a recovery plan of 1,900 billion dollars (which was used in particular to finance the vaccination against Covid-19) and a recovery plan. investment of 1,000 billion dollars to renovate the country’s infrastructure. The unemployment rate was also 3.9% in December*, against 6.4% a year earlier. “It has been a year of challenges but also a year of enormous progress”, boasted Joe Biden during a press conference on the eve of the first anniversary of his inauguration, Wednesday, January 19.

But there are still shadows on the board. A third investment plan, costing 1,750 billion and which provides for reforms in health, education and ecology, seems doomed to parliamentary shipwreck. West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has already announced that he will vote against it. To circumvent this blockage, Joe Biden pledged on Wednesday to pass “wide sections” of the plan by dividing it into several investment projects.

The president believes that this is the best remedy against inflation, which reached 7% in December*. “She darkens Joe Biden’s economic record, because it makes the recovery less noticeable for the population. Americans are worried about rising prices for gasoline and basic necessities.” analysis John Della Volpe, Director of Polls at Harvard University’s Institute of Political Science.

In terms of the pandemic, vaccination did not prevent two new waves of contamination linked to the Delta and Omicron* variants. “In a sense, it’s another form of long Covid: Americans are looking for a return to normalcy, to a sense of control over their daily lives”, supports John Della Volpe.

“They hoped that the crisis would be resolved more quickly, but the variants proved that the pandemic was still going to last. This weighs on their morale, and on their perception of presidential action.”

John Della Volpe, political scientist

at franceinfo

Joe Biden’s drop in the polls thus occurred during the summer, when an epidemic rebound coincided with the hasty withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. “A huge majority of public opinion supported this departure but wanted to see the soldiers return to applause, with honor and dignity”, says Célia Belin. Instead, Americans “were horrified” by the images of thousands of Afghans massed at the gates of Kabul airport, or clinging desperately to the landing gear of an airplane in the hope of fleeing the return to power of the Taliban.

“The withdrawal from Afghanistan is probably one of Joe Biden’s worst failures so far, adds David Smith. He had campaigned on the image of an experienced politician, competent on foreign affairs and empathetic. Qualities he seemed to lack during the Kabul departure debacle.”

Not enough to shake the Democrat. “He was already in favor of the withdrawal from Afghanistan when he was vice-president of Barack Obama, recalls political scientist Célia Belin. He is also less sensitive than others to political weather, to fluctuations in opinion. He is not afraid of being unpopular: his priority is to move forward with his program.”

As he had pledged to do during his campaign, Joe Biden therefore began to rebuild diplomatic relations with the United States’ historic allies in the Pacific and in Europe (despite tensions with Paris after the Australian submarine crisis). . At the same time, it engaged in a showdown with two other superpowers: Russia and China. After announcing the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, he banned the import of products manufactured in the Xinjiang region*, where Uyghurs are interned in forced labor camps.

“He is engaged in what he sees as a struggle of values ​​between the United States and China, between democracy and autocracy, continues Celia Belin. Staying in Afghanistan was of no use to him in this fight. This file cost him a lot politically, but he does not regret this decision.

Because the American president has other objectives in view. After more than 40 years in politics, Joe Biden “probably knows better than anyone the mysteries of power and the functioning of institutions”, according to John Della Volpe. “He has a long-term project for the United States and keeps the strategy that has worked for him so far: play the long game, respect the parliamentary process and implement his program without basing his decisions on the polls.”