Biden approval rating at historic low in NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll

President Biden's approval rating is at a historic low in a new poll, which coincides with a national surge in COVID-19 cases, rising consumer prices and struggles to advance his legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.

The new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that Biden's approval rating has sunk to 41 percent, a historic low for the president in polls conducted by the groups. Fifty-five percent of adults in the U.S. disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president.

When broken down by party, 29 percent of independents polled said they strongly approve or approve of the job Biden is doing, while 66 percent said they strong disapprove or disapprove.

Eighty-seven percent of Democrats and just 4 percent of Republicans gave the president positive marks for the job he is doing.

Biden's most recent approval rating is a slight decline from 42 percent in a poll released on Dec. 9. His approval for the polling groups peaked mid-April, when 54 percent of adults gave him positive marks.

The poll, which was conducted between Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, comes amid a difficult time for the Biden White House, which is currently facing a surge in COVID-19 cases driven largely by the new omicron variant, increasing inflation nationwide and dim prospects for the Democrats' social spending and climate legislation.

Coronavirus infections have been on the rise after the highly mutated omicron variant was first identified in South Africa last month, and quickly spread to a number of countries and throughout the U.S.

The U.S. is also seeing a rise in prices nationwide amid a level of inflation the country as not seen in 30 years.

On Capitol Hill, negotiations for Biden's roughly $2 trillion social spending and climate package, known as the Build Back Better Act, have stalled. At the time of the poll lawmakers and White House officials were still working to hash out the final details of the behemoth legislation.

Since then, however, the chances of a bill passing the Senate have significantly dwindled after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced Sunday that he will not vote for the legislation.

The poll surveyed 1,400 adults. The results for the subset are statistically significant within plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.