According to the poll, 53 percent of adults say they approve of Biden’s job as president — including 90 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents but just 9 percent of Republicans — while 39 percent of all respondents say they disapprove.
Biden’s job rating is higher than Donald Trump’s was at this same point in time in the poll (40 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove), but it’s lower than Barack Obama’s was at 100 days (61 percent approve, 30 percent disapprove).
Among registered voters in the new poll, Biden’s job rating stands at 51 percent who approve, 43 percent who disapprove.
The president gets his highest marks on handling the pandemic (69 percent approve), on dealing with the economy (52 percent approve), on uniting the country (52 percent approve) and on race relations (49 percent approve).
“I think I just like how he’s handling the Covid crisis more than Trump did,” said one Democratic poll respondent from Iowa.
But Biden’s lowest scores come on dealing with China (35 percent), handling the gun issue (34 percent) and dealing with border security and immigration (33 percent).
“He opened floodgates for illegal immigration,” said one female Trump voter from Texas.
And by a 55-to-34 percent margin, respondents believe that Biden has returned the country to a more typical way that past presidents have governed the country.
“I don’t have to think about what Joe Biden is doing every day,” said a North Carolina man who voted for Biden. “The best thing about Joe Biden is I don’t have to think about Joe Biden.”
The NBC News poll also found that Biden’s top legislative priorities are fairly popular with the American public.
Forty-six percent of Americans say the Covid-19 relief bill he signed into law in March is a good idea, versus 25 percent who call it a bad idea, with another 26 percent who don’t have an opinion.
And 59 percent say his infrastructure plan — which would upgrade roads and bridges, expand broadband access and pay to care for the elderly and disabled — is a good idea, while 21 percent disagree; 19 percent don’t have an opinion.
By party, 87 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 21 percent of Republicans support Biden’s infrastructure plan.
“America may be a divided country, but the data here reveal that Americans are not evenly divided on the path that the Biden-Harris administration is taking,” said Horwitt, the Democratic pollster.
What’s more, 56 percent of respondents say they feel more hopeful when looking at Biden’s leadership and plans for the country, compared with 42 percent who say they feel more doubtful.
That 42% is the Trump average approval rating throughout his entire term. That’s the base.
I’d say Biden’s doing pretty well. He was handed a hideous problem to solve instantly and was denied a normal transition period to get up to speed. He’s done quite well.
Is this a honeymoon? I guess. I can’t imagine it will last but maybe if we have a strong economic recovery and Biden is able to get a serious infrastructure bill passed, people will give him credit and his first term will be a success. But people are counting on this administration to do some other very big things and they aren’t going to be easy. And there are always problems. We’ll have to see.
A lot of Biden’s approval so far has to be that he just isn’t a screaming jackass all day, every day. For as many people who just loved that Trump freakshow, there were more that really hated it. The contrast with Biden couldn’t be more stark.
And former President Donald Trump’s favorable/unfavorable rating in the poll is 32 percent positive, 55 percent negative, while Biden’s score is 50 percent positive, 36 percent negative.
Trump’s getting less popular the longer he’s out of office. Usually the ex-president gains in popularity. This doesn’t bode well for Trump 2024. Which is good, since the Republicans probably don’t have any choice but to nominate him if he wants it. That 32% is the core of their primary vote.
Update:
Fox has a poll out today too. They have him at 54% approval. Look how they discuss the poll:
That’s the best news in the poll for Biden.
Views on the economy are more than two-to-one negative: 29 percent rate it as excellent/good and 69 percent say only fair/poor. That’s little changed since the end of Trump’s term, when it was 33-66 percent. However, in January 2020, before the pandemic, 55 percent rated economic conditions positively, including a record 20 percent saying “excellent.”
Lol! As if comparing the economy today to last January says anything at all! It was before the pandemic! Might as well compare it to 1920!
But that’s nothing to the way the ABC poll is characterized:
Intense partisanship is holding Joe Biden to a tepid job approval rating — the third-lowest for any president at 100 days in office since Harry Truman — along with continued economic dislocation, pandemic impacts and questions about Biden’s view of the size and role of government.
All told, 52% of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Biden’s work in office, lower than any president at 100 days in office since 1945, save Gerald Ford in 1974 (48%, after his unpopular pardon of Richard Nixon) and Donald Trump at 42% in 2017. For the 14 presidents from Truman to Biden, the 100-day average is 66%.
Wow. What a loser, huh?