This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden trying to explain away the woes of the country and his administration, but fewer people are listening to him.

Democratic pollster John Zogby, grading Biden a “C,” said the president isn’t hiding from the problems he faces with inflation, COVID-19 deaths, and the potential reversal of Roe vs. Wade, but he is also not making any progress in getting the public to buy what he is selling.

“While his approval rating hovered at 44% last week, this week it is back to 41% and trending downward,” said the longtime pollster.

Conservative Jed Babbin, grading an “F” for the week, said few are listening to Biden because they don’t believe him and feel the administration is just coming up with excuses for inflation, rising gas prices, and other problems instead of acting to fix them.

And like Zogby, he sees that trend continuing. “Never say it can’t get worse because it probably will next week,” he said.

John Zogby
Grade C

Biden is trying hard to get ahead of events and to get out front on his message.

He has expressed his empathy about the pain that people feel at the mercy of inflation. He spoke eloquently about reaching the 1 million mark of those who have died from COVID-19 in the United States. He has pushed for more military and humanitarian aid to Ukrainians and displayed leadership in getting reluctant European allies to do the same. He has stood by his base by condemning the leak of the draft of Justice Samuel Alito's memo on Roe v. Wade.

He is visible and not hiding. But thus far, none of this is helping him.

While his approval rating hovered at 44% last week, this week, it is back to 41% and trending downward.

Jed Babbin
Grade F

Among the milestones passed this week, the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in America exceeded 1 million and the national average price of gasoline hit another record high.

What is Biden doing about the high price of gas? His Interior Department this week stopped the sale of oil and gas drilling rights on what are probably the two largest parcels of federal land, one in Alaska’s Cook Inlet and the other in the Gulf of Mexico.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that abortions were good for the economy, incoming White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that you have a target on your back if you’re not white, male, straight, or wealthy, and Biden said: “I agree with what [Federal Reserve Board] Chairman Powell said last week, that the No. 1 threat is the strength, and that strength that we’ve built is inflation.”

The president’s strong inflation continued at the rate of a 40-year high and no end is in sight. Stocks continued a pre-recession nosedive. Biden also repeated his long-disproved lie that he’d been in Iraq and Afghanistan about 50 times.

All of that was a buildup to Biden’s speech in which he gaslighted the country by saying that the economic misery he has inflicted isn’t his fault at all. It was, according to Biden’s speech, caused entirely by the pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the “ultra-MAGA” movement backing former President Donald Trump. Nobody believes Biden now because it’s so undeniable that his policies (which he contends are helping the economy) are the reason for inflation, the shortages of goods, and the general economic malaise that’s befallen the country. Even the Government Accountability Office says our growing national debt, to which Biden is adding massively, is unsustainable. This means America is going broke because our government is spending far too much.

And Biden wants Congress to pass his “Build Back Better” plan. That’s more reckless spending that, like the GAO says, is unsustainable. A CNN fact-checker blew up Biden’s claim that his policies were resulting in a reduction in the national debt. Now there’s a critical shortage of baby formula. But, natch, pallets of formula are being sent to mothers coming across the border illegally.

If that weren’t enough, the White House is encouraging the protesters who are picketing, screaming, and otherwise harassing members of the Supreme Court in their homes over the leak of the draft opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, which reportedly will reverse Roe v. Wade. Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Biden encourages those protesters. Her words, and the inaction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, directly aid and abet the violation of a federal law prohibiting such protests that are intended to intimidate or influence any federal judge.

We saw the same thing during the Obama years. Presidents are elected to administer and enforce the law. They don’t get to pick and choose the laws they want to enforce and ignore others, but that’s exactly what Biden is doing. The same is true about the border crisis Biden created. He’s decided to not enforce the laws he doesn’t like. That’s an impeachable offense against the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the wacko director of Biden’s "Disinformation Governance Board," Nina Jankowicz, wants the power to edit tweets because she’s more trustworthy than the rest of us.

Never say it can’t get worse because it probably will next week.

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin