President Joe Biden has given fewer press conferences and interviews during his first year than any of his five most recent predecessors, according to a report released by the Associated Press on Sunday.
Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush all held more press conferences in their first year than Biden.
“As Biden wraps up his first year in the White House, he has held fewer news conferences than any of his five immediate predecessors at the same point in their presidencies, and has participated in fewer media interviews than any of his recent predecessors,” the AP article said “The dynamic has the White House facing questions about whether Biden, who vowed to have the most transparent administration in the nation’s history, is falling short in pulling back the curtain on how his administration operates and missing opportunities to explain his agenda.”
President Biden has done 22 interviews with the media and held nine formal news conferences. Former President Trump, by contrast, had held 22 press conferences at this point of his term and was also interviewed by the media 92 times in his first year.
Ronald Reagan was the only president in recent memory to hold fewer first-year press conferences than Biden, but Reagan’s first year was interrupted when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr. in March 1981 – just two months after he was sworn in.
Reagan did 59 interviews in 1981, the AP analysis shows.
According to a MSNBC/Change Research poll, President Biden now has a 44% approval rating and a 56% disapproval rating.
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