Joe Biden's act growing old for more Americans

By ANDREW MALCOLM
Posted 08:24 AM ET

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images (Oh, jeez, what did he say now?)

For the first time since then-Sen. Barack Obama begged then-Sen. Joe Biden to become his vice presidential running mate, Americans have developed a negative view of the %#&*(+$ guy.

A new Gallup Poll just out finds that for the first time since the summer of 2008, the scales of favorability have tipped against old-timer Biden, who became a senator when Barry Obama was on the sixth-grade playground. Forty-five percent of Americans now view Biden unfavorably, while 42% still feel favorable.

The poll was taken after Joe stole the president's liberal applause line by announcing on "Meet the Press' that he favored same-sex marriage. After days of PR damage control and an overwhelming vote against same-sex marriage in North Carolina, host state for Democrats' national convention this summer, Obama said he agreed with Joe.

And Obama said he felt so strongly about gay marriage, that he was going to vote Present and leave the issue up to individual states, 30 of which have now voted in one way or another to ban gay marriage. The other 27 20 states allow it or haven't decided.

According to Gallup's numbers, Biden's high point of favorability was 59% and came before he actually took office.

It's been trending downwards ever since, while his unfavorable rating has been above 40% since his first autumn in office. That's months before he began promising hundreds of thousands of new jobs would be created every forthcoming month. That did not come to pass.

Predictably, Democrats (73%-14%) see Joe favorably, while Republicans (15%-72%) don't. However, now even the crucial independent voters have turned on Biden, with 37% seeing him favorably while a near-majority (47%) are unfavorable.

Given Obama's own slumped numbers, some Democrats have called for a game-changing VP switcheroo this summer, inserting Hillary Clinton for JB, especially if Republican Mitt Romney selects a female running mate. The secretary of States is five years younger than Biden, who turns 70 this year, and her poll numbers are much higher than the president's.

Historically, such a switch hasn't happened since 1944 because it's a tacit admission the president made a mistake with his initial choice. And when's the last time you heard a Harvard grad publicly admit a mistake?

Plus the fact that having a voluble, gaffe-prone partner around makes Obama look smoother and smarter, helping to hide his own regular gaffes. And having his savvy former party primary rival ever-present would invite comparisons that the imperial Obama would rather not invite.

According to Edward Klein's new book, "The Amateur," which he discusses in this video here, Bill Clinton told his wife and senior aides last summer that his private polling showed she could beat Obama in a 2012 primary struggle.

Obviously, the party challenge did not come to pass. But what Bill Clinton called Obama did provide Klein with the title of his best-selling book.