President Biden will return from Camp David on Monday in time to host an Independence Day celebration at the White House for the second year running.
Starting at 5 p.m., Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host a July 4 barbecue for military families, during which the president will deliver remarks to celebrate the occasion, the White House announced Sunday.
The president and first lady will then take in the fireworks on the National Mall from the White House.
Biden’s second July 4 in office comes as his popularity has taken a turn for the worse.
“Today, all across this nation, we can say with confidence: America is coming back together,” Biden said during his Independence Day speech last year, in which he also celebrated the country’s success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although COVID deaths have now plummeted since the omicron variant caused a winter spike, economic uncertainty and record inflation have hit Americans — and Biden’s approval ratings — hard.
A recent AP-NORC Center Poll conducted June 23 to 27 found that Biden’s approval rating is at a historic low of 39 percent, compared to 55 percent in a poll taken at a similar time last year. The poll also saw respondents giving their lowest approval rating for the direction the country is heading in — 14 percent compared to 44 percent last July.
The White House has maintained it has a plan to confront the issues plaguing the American people.
“Fighting inflation and lowering prices is the president’s number one economic priority, and he’s laser focused on doing everything he can to make sure the economy is working for the American people,” White House spokesperson Chris Meagher said of Biden this weekend, according to the Associated Press.
He added, “And we’re in a strong position to transition from our historic jobs recovery to stable and steady growth. Because of the work we’ve done to bring the pandemic under control, COVID is not the disruptive factor it has been for so long.”