GOP governors hit ‘failing’ Biden with poor presidential job reviews

These US leaders say President Biden deserves a big, fat F on his first-year report card.

In fact, several of the attendees at the National Governors Association winter meeting at the White House gave Biden “failing” or “poor” reviews of his job performance so far. 

“I think this is a failing administration, and I think it’s a real shame,” Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey told Fox News, pointing to the chaotic troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, ongoing southern border crisis and the current tensions with Russia over Ukraine. 

“The failed exit from Afghanistan, the surging inflation, that’s a hidden tax on everyone in this country, the highest cost of everyday living that we’ve seen in 40 years, the crisis at the border that’s not only affecting Arizona but every state with fentanyl spilling in, and now this muddled policy in Ukraine, we’ve never projected more weakness on the global stage, and there’s no real sense to his economic policy,” Ducey continued. 

Asked to grade the administration’s performance, Ducey said, “I’d have to give them a failing grade, and they’re going to need a lot of work to turn this around.”

GOP Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte agreed with that sentiment, giving Biden an “F.” 

While Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declined to give a letter grade, he said the administration has been “poor on effectiveness.” 

“Whether you talk about border security, whether you talk about Afghanistan withdrawal, whether you talk about the inflation challenges we have, all of those areas, the grade is poor,” he added. 

Hutchinson noted that overall, state leaders look for “effectiveness” and “some measure of bipartisanship,” but they “haven’t seen that yet” in the Biden administration. 

GOP New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu was slightly more favorable. 

“I’m going to give the Biden administration a solid D,” he said. “And I’m trying to be generous there.” 

Still, the New Hampshire governor still took a shot at the administration’s leadership. 

“Their communication is just terrible,” he said. “And from a leadership perspective, communication is everything. Communication builds public confidence and builds transparency.”

Sununu noted that while he did not support Biden during the campaign, he expected that the president would work across the aisle and “not come in with an authoritarian approach.” 

“Hopefully there’s a pivot and a change, but nobody’s seeing it right now, and that’s why they’re sitting at 38% approval,”  he said.

Biden’s job approval rating has steadily dropped since he took over last year. 

Currently, his approval rating sits at an average of 41.6 percent and his disapproval rating is at 54.5 percent, according to calculations by RealClearPolitics. 

After his first year in office was marred by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, record border crossings, the Afghanistan withdrawal and high inflation, the administration is looking toward a more positive second year. 

However, that could prove to be difficult with rising tensions with Russia and as Democrats face a steep climb to keep the majority in the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. 

Some of the governors hope the president will engage more with them, citing consistent communication between the governors and top officials in the previous administration. 

Republican Gov. Brad Little of Idaho revealed that those calls were often held with the former vice president, president and secretary of health and human services. 

“Now the call is with somebody much lower down,” Little said. “This administration said they’re going to work with Congress to get their initiatives done, at the expense of working with us, the governors, who have to get things done.” 

“Even my Democratic colleagues say they got better service from the Trump White House than they are from the Biden White House,” he added. “That was just a difference in style, that was the biggest part of it.” 

Other chief executives, such as GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, insisted they remain in good communication with the Biden administration. 

“We’ve had a lot of interaction with the Biden administration, and before that with the Trump administration, in regard to the pandemic,” DeWine said.

“That’s been a lot of contact, and look, we’ve had a good relationship in regard to the pandemic with the Trump administration, and we’ve had a good relationship with the Biden administration. So, these are not partisan issues. These are issues where we’re trying to save lives, and also keep people working and keep our economy moving.”

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy did not grade the president this week, but admitted “nobody’s perfect.” 

“I’m not big into grades, but I do think we focus, I think all of us, media or otherwise, on what didn’t get done. I think we should shine a light on what did get done,” he told Fox News, pointing to the bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year, vaccination progress and an increase in testing.