Majority of Americans approve of Biden’s pandemic response, new poll finds

A majority of Americans said in a new poll that they have at least “some” confidence in President Joe Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Thursday found that 38% of people have a “great deal of confidence” in Biden’s pandemic response, 36% have “only some confidence” and 26% have “hardly any confidence at all.”

The poll was conducted Jan. 28-Feb. 1 with a sample size of 1,055 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Overall, 61% of respondents approve of the job Biden is doing as president while 26% strongly disapprove and 11% somewhat disapprove.

The survey results were partisan, with 97% of Democrats, 58% of independents and 23% of Republicans approving of Biden.

Biden faces pressure to address a pandemic that has killed more than 455,000 people in the U.S. as of Feb. 4 and a weakened economy bogged down by job cuts and businesses struggling to stay afloat.

Biden is also pushing ahead with a $1.9 trillion emergency relief package that would provide $1,400 stimulus checks for Americans, extended unemployment benefits, funding for local and state governments, and money for vaccine distribution and schools.

Biden’s approval rating reflects the heightened popularity typically enjoyed by previous presidents at the beginning of their terms. With the exception of former President Donald Trump, presidents have typically received higher approval ratings in their first six months in office, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Trump’s average approval rating was 41.4% during the first six months of his term, with an average 52.2% disapproval, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate of polls. Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had average approval ratings of 60.2%, 53.9% and 50.5% during their first six months of presidency, respectively.

Respondents in the survey were less confident in Biden’s ability to handle the economy and immigration. Sixty-five percent of people said that they had at least “some” confidence in Biden for responding to the economy while 34% had “hardly any confidence at all.” Sixty-two percent of people were at least somewhat confident in Biden’s ability to tackle immigration issues while 38% said they had “hardly any confidence.”

Fewer people were confident that Biden will be able to “reduce the amount of corruption in the government in Washington.” Only 18% said they had a “great deal of confidence” in Biden for reducing corruption while 37% had “only some confidence” and 45% said they had “hardly any confidence at all.”

Sixty-five percent had at least some confidence in Biden for his ability to work with Republicans on legislation, while 36% had “hardly any confidence.”

Biden has signed 28 executive orders as of Tuesday, almost as many as former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed 30 in the first month of his term, NPR reported. Some of Biden’s executive orders were aimed at undoing Trump administration-era policies, resulting in criticism from Republicans who say that the orders run counter to Biden’s pledge for bipartisanship and unity.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Majority of Americans approve of Biden’s pandemic response, new poll finds."