Just when he needed it, Biden's polling is improving

• President Joe Biden's support and approval polls have improved in recent weeks.
• He's still trailing Trump in several key battleground states, but is doing better than before.
• The spike comes with less than eight months to go until he faces off against Trump in November.

Democratic President Joe Biden's performance in polls is improving, and just in time for the struggling incumbent.

Decision Desk HQ, a leading elections data organization, said Monday morning that Biden's approval rating is at the "highest point" in its average of polls over the last five months, with 44% average approval based on 1,150 separate polls.

Biden's current average approval rating isn't his peak over the last year, DDHQ's data shows. That came in early March 2023, when he averaged 45% support just weeks before a New York grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump.

A close inspection of The Hill/DDHQ's chart shows Biden's approval reached its lowest point with 38.5% average approval on March 2, a little less than a month after then-US Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report that said the president had a "poor memory."

Hur's report appeared to impact Biden's polling significantly, with survey after survey after its release showing that the vast majority of surveyed voters said they didn't think that 81-year-old Biden possesses the mental or physical health needed for another term in office.

Just before Hur testified before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, the transcription of his interview with the president was published online, showing that Hur may have overstated Biden's memory issues in his report.

That revelation and a highly energetic State of the Union performance from Biden have likely played a large role in how the aging president's bucked polling trends in recent weeks. In the 24 hours after his speech to Congress, Biden's campaign raised more than $10 million.

A series of swing state polls released by Bloomberg News/Morning Consult on Tuesday supports the idea that his speech affected his current standing among his supporters. The surveys were conducted in the days following his address, where his support almost immediately increased in most critical battleground states.

Biden won three swing states in 2020 — Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona — by less than 35,000 votes, which were vital to him besting Trump electorally. Winning those states again this year will be crucial for Biden.

As Bloomberg News/Morning Consult's report noted, Biden still trails Trump in support by several percentage points in many of those battleground states, though he may be on the right track moving forward.

Biden might also benefit from the Republican-led House of Representatives' current maelstrom of self-induced chaos after another "motion to vacate" was recently filed against a sitting GOP speaker.

The more Biden can present himself and Democratic candidates as the adults in the room while congressional productivity plummets, the better argument he'll have for another four years in office.