Biden polls positive for first 100 days in office

President Biden: A range of 52-58% of US adults say they approve of the job he is doing.

Most Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s performance during his first 100 days in office, three new polls found yesterday. Overall, the polls showed a range of 52-58% of US adults who say that they approve of the job Biden is doing, compared with 39-42% who say they disapprove. However, the positive ratings are divided along party lines: about 90% of Democrats say they approve of Biden’s performance, while only 9-13% of Republicans do. Biden’s performance is far higher than predecessor Donald Trump achieved in his entire presidency. Trump spent most of his presidency with ratings in the low 40s, and left office on January 20 with a Gallup poll approval of just 34%, a record low. A poll by CBS gives Biden the highest ranking, with 58% approval and 42% disapproval. NBC found that 53% of adults approve, while 39% disapprove. And a poll by ABC and the Washington Post showed a 52% overall approval rating and a 42% disapproval rating. Biden’s strongest performance across the board was for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 64-69% approval. However, the polls found that vaccine hesitancy has increased, with CBS showing that 19% of Republicans say they might get the vaccine, and 30% saying they won’t get it at all. Additionally, Biden received the weakest marks for how he has dealt with the migration situation at the US-Mexico border. The ABC poll found that only 37% of adults approved of his approach to the border, while NBC found that only 33% of adults approved. While Biden’s overall performance so far is generally higher than Trump’s, it is lower than that of Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice-president. Obama had an average of 60% approval in rating his first half year, while  his predecessor George W Bush had 53.9%. Trump, by contrast, had an average approval rating of 41.4% in his first six months. According to data from the fivethirtyeight.com site, Trump was the first president in half a century not to enjoy a honeymoon period with substantially better polling in the first six months.