President Joe Biden is traveling to the United States Virgin Islands Wednesday to ring in the new year after spending Christmas at Camp David.
The trip comes as the president is staring down growing domestic headaches and heading into what will likely be a mud-slinging campaign rematch against former President Donald Trump.
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White House officials said that Biden and first lady Jill Biden would depart Washington Wednesday morning for St. Croix, where they also visited to end Biden’s second year in office, but did not say which other Biden family members will join the pair on their Caribbean vacation as in years past.
Biden’s Christmas stay at Camp David marked his 30th trip to the presidential retreat for a total of 102 days, according to Mark Knoller, a former CBS News White House Correspondent. The president has spent nearly 40% of his presidency in Delaware, at Camp David, or vacationing elsewhere.
By my count, this is Biden’s 30th visit to Camp David, his first time at Christmas. Will bring days spent there to 102. Compares with predecessors at same point in office:
-Trump: 11 visits/25 days
-Obama: 22/54
-GWBush: 74/235— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) December 23, 2023
For comparison, at this point in their terms, Trump spent 25 days at Camp David across 11 trips, while former President Barack Obama totaled 54 days across 22 visits.
Former President George W. Bush outpaced the pack, logging 235 days at Camp David over 74 visits.
Biden has slumped in the polls for months and will head into 2024 with the lowest approval rating of any incumbent president entering their fourth year in office, dating back to Jimmy Carter. The president is also slipping in a number of critical battleground states, especially in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup against Trump.
Young Democratic voters, in particular, have soured on the president in recent weeks, particularly regarding his handling of the crisis in Gaza.
A recent poll from The New York Times found that voters overall (57%) disapprove of Biden’s support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign in Gaza, yet voters aged 18-29 in particular gave Biden’s Israel policy negative marks, with 72% voicing disapproval.
Following the outpouring of negative sentiment from Democrats, Biden has slowly distanced himself from his past support for Netanyahu.
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The president has repeatedly said at closed-door fundraisers that Israel must change its methods in regard to rooting out Hamas terrorists in Gaza or risk the full dissolution of international support.
The president spoke with the Emir of Qatar Tuesday evening about the remaining hostages held by Hamas and agreed to continue the “urgent effort to secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, including American citizens,” according to White House officials.
