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Around 2021, when the construction of NordStream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was completed and it nearly became operational, US President Biden faced heavy criticism from his own party and the opposition for suspending sanctions on the pipeline:

The continued political fallout from President JOE BIDEN’s Nord Stream 2 decision is stunning, even to administration officials ... This one decision, arguably more than the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan, has imperiled Biden’s agenda. The fight over the National Defense Authorization Act has delayed passage of China-targeted competition bills and complicated efforts to avoid a government shutdown. Administration officials expected fierce congressional pushback, even from Democrats, but not to the point that it would remain an issue for months. - Nord Stream 2 turning into Biden’s No. 1 problem

On February 08, 2023, Seymour Hersh, an experienced journalist, published a sensationalist article alleging that President Biden ordered the destruction of the NordStream pipelines - How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline.

The news of the sabotage of the pipeline has invited both praise and criticism for Biden administration from the opposition too.

While Hersh's view has not received much traction in the US mainstream media, right-leaning media outlets in the US, like Fox News, have given it some publicity and used the claim to largely criticise President Biden (probably to counter the perception that if Biden did order the destruction, the public would see him as a "decisive and strong" leader standing up to Russia during a war).

Are there any recent polls indicating how the American public perceives President Biden after the Hersh report? (It would be helpful if the polls were specifically linked to the bombing, Biden's role and split among Democrat and Republican perceptions.)

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  • Please note that correlation doesn't imply causation. Approval ratings decrease or increase for all possible reasons or even seemingly at random sometimes. I'm not sure that anyone can learn something from any possible correlation here, unless the change in approval rating was gigantic and nothing else occurred.
    – Trilarion
    Mar 16 at 16:04

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There has been no substantial movement.

In early February, the 538 poll tracker gave Biden a -9 rating (Approval-Disapproval) Now it gives him a -8 rating. That is probably a real change (the large number of polls makes even such small changes statistically significant), it isn't a substantial change. There has been no substantial change in Biden's approval since September last year, it has hovered between -7 and -10 for six months.

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    Additionally, even if there were a more substantial change it would be unclear whether it is due to the Nordstream 2 pipeline or one of the myriad other issues people care about.
    – quarague
    Mar 16 at 8:11
  • @quarague Aren't perceptions about current events and how the President deals with it not covered in such regular polling?
    – sfxedit
    Mar 16 at 10:29
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    @sfxedit: maybe Fox would run a poll like this, but it's doubtful they'd do it now. After all they've been saying the same stuff 5 months ago. Here's Tucker Carlson saying it 5 months ago youtube.com/watch?v=E0Abayg3k_o
    – Fizz
    Mar 16 at 10:33
  • @sfxedit: OTOH, funnily enough, Trump is now claiming that he "ended" the pipeline edition.cnn.com/2023/03/05/politics/fact-check-trump-cpac/… So I guess that gives Fox even less of an incentive to run such a poll now.
    – Fizz
    Mar 16 at 10:45
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    Any recent Biden drops would seem more easily attributed to SVB banking woes, which are tied to Fed interest rate tightening, i.e. inflation.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Mar 16 at 16:17

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