- JL Partners asked 1,009 registered voters for their view on Biden's legacy
- The results are far from flattering but supporters say history will be kinder
Ask Democrats, Republicans or independents for their one-word summary of his legacy and they put aside their differences to answer almost unanimously: Nothing.
Those are the extraordinary results of an exclusive poll conducted for DailyMail.com by J.L. Partners.
Some 1,009 registered voters were asked for their brief description of the legacy of Biden, who leaves the White House on Monday at the age of 82 after four turbulent years.
When the results are arranged in a word cloud, the most common answer sticks out at the center. The next most popular answers are economy, inflation, and infrastructure, in a more encouraging nod to one of his landmark pieces of legislation.
Yet the same word, 'nothing' stands out when the responses are split by political persuasion.
For Democrats, the memory is softened by other words such as 'good,' 'stability,' and 'better.'
But as Biden prepares for a life outside politics for the first time in half a century, and plans for a presidential library and other elements of his legacy, it suggests at least the first draft of history is unlikely to be kind to him.
And there is worse in other parts of the poll.
When voters were asked whether they can remember a single Biden achievement, more than half say they cannot. Some 37 percent say they 'strongly' agree with the statement that they cannot name a single one.
Even Democrats struggle. More than a third said they could not name a single achievement.
The results echo an earlier poll, which found that voters ranked Biden as the least successful of recent president.
James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners, said it was a diabolical
'As far as public opinion is concerned, you have to squint to see even the echoes of a legacy—and even then people are more likely to remember it negatively,' he said.
'Biden’s biggest achievements in office—such as legislation in Congress – are crowded out by the overriding view: That he was responsible for inflation, and that he was a mentally unwell Commander-in-Chief.
'Perhaps the history books will be different, but in the minds of the public there’s no legacy to be seen.'
Biden has been burnishing his legacy during the past week.
First came a major foreign policy speech in which he said his successor will inherit a nation that is leading the world once again.
'My administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play,' he said. 'And we're leaving an America with more friends and stronger alliances, whose adversaries are weaker and under pressure.'
On the domestic front he has received plaudits for leading the country out of the pandemic and the associated economic upheaval.
And some of his legislative achievements could yet positive economic impacts far into the future.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 authorized $1.2 trillion of spending, cash which will be spent on bridges, airports and railways for years to come.
He also pushed through the Inflation Reduction Act, which kickstarted investment in green technology, among other things.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said it was clear that voters had little appreciation for Biden now. But he believed history would be kind to the 46th president.
'I think he's going to be regarded in the future as a prophet, because I think we'll look back at the inflation Reduction Act and his other environmental activism, and say: "Boy, I wish we had paid more attention then to what he did,' he said.
He added that some blame lay with the White House, which had struggled to deliver a coherent message at times.
Biden himself, in a farewell message Wednesday, claimed to have put in place policies whose impacts would be felt years into the future.
'You know, it will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together,' he said. 'But the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come.'
