By Analysis by Harry Enten

CNN

October 8, 2021

 

(CNN)President Joe Biden won the 2020 election in large part because he was able to win the center. He emerged with a 13-point win with independent voters, a group that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost by 4 points in 2016. (House Democratic candidates, for their part, took independents by 9 points in 2020.)

That's why it should be alarming to Biden that the recent downturn in his approval rating has come disproportionately from independents, as the Washington Post's Henry Olsen first pointed out. This slide could have major electoral implications, if it holds.

You can see this trend among independents in polls that meet CNN's standards for reporting. Biden's net approval rating (approve-disapprove) among independents in polls completed in September and October stands at -16 points. Not surprisingly, his net approval rating is significantly higher among Democrats (+79 points) and lower among Republicans (-84 points).