President Joe Biden has faced some of his toughest political challenges in 2022 with depressed approval ratings and difficulty passing signature policy, along with other pressing national and global issues, from the economy to foreign policy.
Democratic voters had only months ago indicated a majority desire for a new presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
However, as his ratings have begun to climb again, content portraying Biden as charitable and empathetic has also gained popularity.
The Claim
A Reddit post shared on 29 August, 2022, shows what appears to be Biden speaking to a rough sleeper. The post has received more than 76,000 engagements since it was published.
The Facts
Although the photo of Biden is indeed authentic, it was not taken recently as the Reddit post might suggest.
A USA Today report from 2018 detailed the photo's provenance.
It was reportedly taken after Biden, who by that point had not yet announced his plans to run for president, had been to see a movie with his granddaughter in Georgetown, Washington D.C., according to Politico.
A report by FOX 5, archived here, claimed that the photographer, named as Caleb Baca, saw Biden hand the man a piece of paper, on which "he appeared to write something down."
Some claimed the president handed the man money but this hasn't been verified.
The photo soon went viral across social media.
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Vice President Joe Biden was spotted speaking with a homeless man after taking his granddaughter to the movies in Georgetown the other day. You can’t buy class, compassion and decency, it’s instilled within one’s soul. 💙 pic.twitter.com/MFs14I0sbN
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) March 11, 2018
It is not the first time that legacy content featuring the president has gone viral years after it was recorded. A video of Biden comforting family of Parkland School shooting victims from 2018 was picked up again in 2020 and shared seven million times.
I'm one of those who frets that the election will be much closer than the polls indicate. That in a world where non-voters are never targeted by Dems, huge turnout could contain multitudes. So I'm dropping some old footage of Joe Biden here: pic.twitter.com/74UROClgbh
— Arun Chaudhary (@ArunChaud) October 21, 2020
Biden has seen a recent turnaround of fortunes, seeing his ratings pick up after previously sinking to the lowest for any president.
Current polling by tracker FiveThirtyEight estimates a 42.4 percent approval rating, up from his lowest score in office of 37.5 percent, recorded on July 21, 2022.
The Ruling
True.
The photo of Joe Biden is real, but was taken more than four years ago. The candid picture, taken after the now president saw a film with his granddaughter, was posted online in 2018 and went viral on social media.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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