Joe Biden is the lamest of lame ducks. 

You might think that with less than a week left of his presidency Americans might feel inclined to give him a boost as he rides off into the sunset of a 50 year career. But a CNN poll released today shows that's not the case. On the contrary, Biden's job approval rating is tied with his record low.

Overall, 36% of US adults say they approve of the way Biden handled the presidency, matching his previous low mark in CNN polling during his term, with even fewer rating his performance positively on immigration (31%), foreign affairs (32%) or the economy (33%). His strongest issues in terms of approval ratings still prompt net-negative results, with less than half saying they approve of the way he protected American democracy (46%), handled environmental policy (44%) or dealt with health care policies (43%).

Okay, fine so almost no one thinks he's doing a good job but surely his personal favorability is up a little...right?

Biden’s favorability rating, a measure of personal feelings rather than job performance, stands at 33% favorable to 58% unfavorable, just one point off his previous low in CNN polling since he became vice president under Barack Obama in 2009 (he reached that 32% in June 2023). His favorability rating has been mired in the low 30s for much of the past two years.

People on both sides of the aisle are sick of him, albeit for different reasons. The left is sick of him because he sided with Israel in the war against Hamas, because he didn't get out of the race soon enough to give Kamala (or someone else) a real chance and ultimately because Trump won. Biden's whole appeal in 2020 was as the guy who can beat Trump. Once he can't do that anymore he's useless.

People on the right are sick of him because he's old and obviously decrepit and because he lied about it. They also don't like his bonkers border policy which brought in millions of new immigrants, his overspending which led to inflation and his many nods to the far left from a guy who was sold to America as a moderate.

Both sides didn't like his pardoning of his son after promising not to do exactly that. To the right he's a liar protecting his crooked family and to the right he's a hypocrite who ran his mouth about democratic norms and preserving the system and then, when it came to his son's case, suggested it was tainted by politics in exactly the way Trump has complained about the cases against him.

Kamala Harris improved her standing a bit with her $2 billion ad spree but she's still underwater. Her favorability ratings now are almost the exact opposite of what they were when she was sworn in four years ago.

Vice President Kamala Harris leaves office with a higher favorability rating than she held shortly before her July entry into last year’s presidential race following Biden’s announcement that he would drop out of the race – 39% have a favorable view now compared with 29% in June – but perceptions of her are still underwater, with about half holding a negative view (50%). At the outset of the Biden presidency in January 2021, Harris’ ratings stood at 51% favorable to 39% unfavorable.

Given the last four years, I'm a bit surprised their approval ratings are as high as they are. I'm really not sure who those people are who still think Joe is doing a good job.

Five more days, that's all he has left, but there's still a chance he'll do something awful in the remaining time he has left. Maybe he'll pardon a few more crooks on his way out. There's still a chance for him to set a new record low approval rating before he's done.