Biden hits highest approval rating in more than a year

President Biden has hit his highest approval rating in more than a year, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregation of polls out on Thursday.

The president kicked off 2022 at 43.3 percent and did not break above 43 percent for the rest of the year, according to the numbers from FiveThirtyEight. The calculation from the polling website also found that 51.1 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s performance.

Biden’s lowest point was in July, when just 37 percent of Americans approved of his performance as president.

FiveThirtyEight factors in multiple polls to calculate the president’s average approval rating, including a Rasmussen Reports-Pulse Opinion Research poll this week that found 47 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s performance. Another poll from Morning Consult showed Biden’s approval rating at 41 percent this week.

Biden’s favorability has been improving since the midterm elections when Democrats had better-than-expected results and held onto the Senate. Republicans flipped the House, but by a much narrower margin than anticipated.

The president’s overall approval rating has also not dipped below 40 percent since early August.

In early August, Biden announced the death of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the top planners behind Sept. 11, and he signed the Democrats’ sweeping climate and tax bill, the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden ended the year with another bipartisan legislative accomplishment when he signed the omnibus funding bill into law and avoided a government shutdown. He also hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, highlighting the president’s leadership among allies during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.