Joe Biden promised to unify us, and he has. Most voters agree that they don't like him

Year One of the Biden presidency was a mixed bag. From COVID-19 to Afghanistan to the economy, Joe’s had a rocky start. Still, he’s delivered big on one promise.

In his inaugural address, Biden said, “Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together. Uniting our people. And uniting our nation.”

Boy, has he delivered. Across dividing lines of age, race and gender, the country is united on one point: Nobody likes Joe Biden.

New poll shows how wide Biden disapproval is

The Quinnipiac Poll released on Wednesday provided the latest evidence. Just 33% of Americans approve of the president’s job so far, with 53% disapproving. Since November, his approval dropped 3 percentage points, all coming from those who held no opinion two months ago.

It’s the lowest approval of his presidency. At least so far.

The most striking part of the poll is the demographic breakdown. Biden’s approval ratings are lower with Hispanic voters (28%) than white voters (32%), a fact sure to set off alarm bells among Democratic strategists.

The president is bombing with men and women (25% and 38%, respectively), the young and old (24% and 43%), and those with college degrees and those without (46% and 24%).

The only positive marks come from Democrats (75% approval) and Black voters (57%), but those are pretty low, historically speaking. Among the crucial independent vote, only 25% like the guy.

“I ask every American to join me in this cause,” Biden said on that cold day last January, “uniting to fight the common foes we face.”

He didn’t realize the common foe would be him.

COVID-19, the economy have voters in a sour mood

Breaking down the results further shows a country in a sour mood. Biden’s handling of COVID-19 is upside-down by 16 percentage points. His campaign promise to “shut down the virus, not the country” backfired in a big way.

The president’s management of the economy is worse still, underwater by 23 percentage points. The same day the poll was released, inflation hit the highest level since 1982. His only plan to fix the economy is to borrow and spend trillions more, deepening our nearly $30 trillion debt. Earlier this week, “Bare Shelves Biden” trended on Twitter as more shortages hit the east coast.

And with Russia threatening Ukraine, China bullying Taiwan, and Afghanistan a living nightmare, the poll lists Biden as 19 percentage points underwater on foreign policy.

It’s gotten so bad for the president that several pundits have floated the idea of – you won’t believe this – Hillary Clinton running in 2024. The woman who lost to Barack Obama and Donald Trump is the 74-year-old fresh face that will surely lead her party to victory. What could go wrong?

A shouty speech on voting didn't help. Or did it?

In the past, when a president’s polls were sinking, they readjusted. Well, every president before the last guy. But Biden has only accelerated his unpopular policies. He spent December propping up his doomed Build Back Better boondoggle. This month, it’s his doomed voting rights legislation.

For the latter, he worked his unifying charm with a shouty speech in Georgia.

“Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace?” Joe bellowed. “Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”

Both Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin criticized his remarks. And those two don’t agree on anything.

“I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy,” Biden said in his inaugural address.

But you did it, Joe. Unity at last.

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Republic and azcentral.com. Follow him on Twitter at @exjon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Biden promised to unify us, and he did. We all agree he's failing