Public image of Joe Biden

Biden was consistently ranked one of the least wealthy members of the Senate,[2][3][4] which he attributed to his having been elected young.[5] Feeling that less-wealthy public officials may be tempted to accept contributions in exchange for political favors, he proposed campaign finance reform measures during his first term.[6] As of November 2009, Biden's net worth was only $27,012.[7] By November 2020, the Bidens were worth $9 million, largely due to sales of Biden's books and speaking fees after his vice presidency.[8][9][10]

The political writer Howard Fineman wrote, "Biden is not an academic, he's not a theoretical thinker, he's a great street pol. He comes from a long line of working people in Scranton—auto salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has that great Irish gift."[11] Political columnist David S. Broder wrote that Biden has grown over time: "He responds to real people—that's been consistent throughout. And his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has gotten much much better."[11] Journalist James Traub has written, "Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself."[12] In 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party".[13]

In recent years, especially after the 2015 death of his elder son Beau, Biden has been discussed for his empathetic nature and ability to communicate about grief.[14][15] CNN wrote in 2020 that his presidential campaign aimed to make him "healer-in-chief", while the New York Times described his extensive history of being called upon to give eulogies.[16] The Associated Press speculated that Joe Biden's ability to connect with those stricken by grief is partially why he won the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination.[17]

In 2006, journalist and TV anchor Wolf Blitzer described Biden as loquacious.[18] According to Ben Smith, writing for Politico in 2008, Biden often deviates from prepared remarks[19] and according to Jake Tapper in 2007, Biden sometimes "puts his foot in his mouth".[20][21][22][23] In 2008, Mark Leibovich wrote for The New York Times that Biden's "weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything".[21] In 2018, Biden called himself a "gaffe machine".[24] Some of his gaffes have been characterized as racially insensitive.[25][26][27][28] Some of those insensitive remarks include claiming a person "needs a small Indian accent to go into a Seven-Eleven",[29] that he did not want his kids to grow up in a "racial jungle" in remarks he made regarding busing, in the mid-1970s,[30] and telling Charlamagne tha God during an interview in 2020 that, "If you do not know who you are voting for, Trump or me, you are not black!".[31]

In the years during and since his 2020 presidential campaign, conservative news outlets and politicians have questioned Biden's cognitive fitness and raised the possibility that he has dementia. Donald Trump has claimed that Biden has dementia and has insultingly called him "Sleepy Joe" at rallies.[32] In 2022, USA Today columnist Ingrid Jacques wrote that Biden falsely claimed that Congress passed student loan forgiveness, when he in fact issued an executive announcement.[33][34] She argues that this "raises questions about Biden’s mental acuity".[35]

According to The New York Times, Biden often embellishes elements of his life or exaggerates, a trait also noted by The New Yorker in 2014.[36][37] In October 2022, the Washington Post wrote that Biden often stretches the truth in order to connect with the ethnicity or identity of an audience.[38] For instance, Biden has claimed to have been more active in the civil rights movement than he actually was, and has falsely recalled being an excellent student who earned three college degrees.[36] The Times wrote, "Mr. Biden's folksiness can veer into folklore, with dates that don't quite add up and details that are exaggerated or wrong, the factual edges shaved off to make them more powerful for audiences."[37] On March 13, 2023, Biden claimed his support for gay marriage began with an epiphany during his senior year in high school.[39] Despite this claim, Biden opposed gay marriage until 2012.[40]

According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden's favorable approval rating remained higher than his disapproval rating until August 30 of 2021.[47] By July 25, 2022, Biden was "historically unpopular" according to the same source, with an average disapproval rating of 57 percent and an average approval rating of only 38%, giving him a net approval rating of -19 percentage points—the worst at this point in a first term since Harry Truman 76 years before.[48] On July 21, 2022, Biden's approval rating hit an all-time low of 37.5%.[47] Immediately after that an upswing in his approval rating began and by August 21, his approval reached 41%, a level unseen since June 1, 2022.[47] By March 2023, however, his approval ratings had slumped back down to 38%, with his disapproval rating reaching an all-time high of 61%.[49] According to a 2023 Washington Post/ABC News poll, 62 percent of Americans believe Biden has accomplished "not very much" or "little or nothing".[50]

• Joe Biden (The Onion)
• Hunter Biden laptop controversy
• "Let's Go Brandon"