Journal Poll: More New Mexico voters disapprove of Biden's job performance as president

Sep. 17—SANTA FE — Four years after Joe Biden decisively won New Mexico, more state voters disapprove than approve of his job performance as president, a new Journal poll found.

About 44% of registered, likely voters surveyed said they approve of Biden's job performance, while 48% expressed disapproval.

The president's tepid job approval rating in New Mexico could underscore why he faced pressure to withdraw from this year's presidential race. Biden ultimately announced his decision to withdraw in July, paving the way for Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party's nominee.

"The reason so many Democratic party leaders encouraged Biden to step aside is that they recognized his unpopularity," said Brian Sanderoff, the president of Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the poll.

In addition, the Journal Poll found that 54% of New Mexico voters surveyed had a favorable view of Harris — about 10 percentage points higher than Biden's job approval rating.

While 74% of registered Democrats surveyed in the Journal Poll said they approved of Biden's job performance as president, about 18% of Democrats expressed disapproval. That was a significantly higher percentage than the 7% of Republicans surveyed who said they approved of Biden's job performance.

"Biden is not getting a lot of accolades from Republicans, and nearly one in five Democrats also does not approve of the job he's doing," Sanderoff said.

Biden's job approval rating was highest among New Mexico voters age 65 or older, while younger voters were more likely to express disapproval.

Like many Democratic elected officials, Biden enjoyed more support among female voters than male voters, though even women were nearly evenly split in their views about his job performance.

Poll methodology

The Journal poll is based on a statewide random sample of 532 voters who cast ballots in the 2020 and/or 2022 general elections, and a sample of adults who registered to vote since December 2022 and who said they are likely to vote in the upcoming election.

The sample was stratified by race and county and weighted by age, gender education level, and party affiliation based on traditional voting patterns in New Mexico general elections, to ensure a more representative sample.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 6 through Friday, excluding last Tuesday (due to the presidential debate). The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers based in Albuquerque, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (88%) and landlines (12%) of likely general election voters were used.