[See NewsBusters for more.] While guest hosting Inside Politics on CNN on Thursday, Phil Mattingly wondered how President Biden's approval rating could be so low, after all he has signed major pieces of legislation and the economy is "robust." To alleviate his confusion, Mattingly welcomed CNN historian Tim Naftali to explain that Biden's numbers will eventually go up because at the current moment he is being dealing with things beyond his control.
Mattingly got the segment started by providing some context, "President Biden will end his first year in office with his approval rating under water. It hasn't been north of 50% since July according to Gallup and now hovers in the low 40s so what's to blame for the languishing numbers?"