Biden approval rating at 63% in new poll, buoyed by his handling of pandemic

President Biden did receive a negative rating on his policies surrounding immigration and gun control

President Joe Biden is approaching the end of his fourth month in office with a steady approval rating from a majority of Americans, who have largely backed his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

A new poll by the Associated Press released this week found that 63 per cent of Americans approved of his work as president in his first 100 days in office.

The survey done in association with NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found that about 71 per cent of Americans, and 47 per cent of Republicans, agreed with the president’s response to the pandemic.

There is also an overall optimism about the state of the country, with about 54 per cent saying that the country is on the right track with 44 per cent disagreeing. The pollsters noted that these are the highest positive marks the question has earned in the polls since 2017.

Policy-based follow-up questions suggested the approval rating for the Biden administration was buoyed by his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and the economy.

His healthcare policy got a thumbs-up from 62 per cent of participants, while 57 per cent approved his handling of the economy.

Mr Biden made financial relief measures the centrepiece of his administration’s early agenda, and in March he signed an ambitious $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package into law. He has also sped up targets for rolling out coronavirus vaccines.

The results showing support for Mr Biden’s economic policy came as a new government report released last Friday showed that only 266,000 new jobs were created in April, sharply lower than in March when about 770,000 jobs were added to the economy.

Mr Biden scored poorly on his migration policy. With reports of migrants, including unaccompanied minors, arriving through the US-Mexico border in high numbers, only 43 per cent approved of his handling of immigration, while 54 per cent gave it a thumbs down.

He also received net disapproval for his policies surrounding gun control. The president unveiled at least half a dozen executive orders to combat gun violence in April, but received support from only 48 per cent of Americans while 49 per cent disapproved of his policies on the matter.

About 1,842 people participated in the poll conducted from 29 April to 3 May with the results having a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.