Biden Gets High Marks for COVID-19 Response
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Story Highlights
- 67% approve of his COVID-19 response, 31% disapprove
- Biden's overall job approval rating is 56%; 40% disapprove
- 54% approve of his handling of the economy and 56% of foreign affairs
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Several weeks into his first term in office, 67% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden's handling of the coronavirus. Although not as high as his rating on the pandemic, approval of Biden is at the majority level on his overall job (56%) and his handling of foreign affairs (56%) and the economy (54%).
| Approve | Disapprove | |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| Overall job | 56 | 40 |
| The response to the coronavirus | 67 | 31 |
| Foreign affairs | 56 | 40 |
| Economy | 54 | 44 |
| Gallup, Feb. 3-18, 2021 |
Biden's latest overall job approval rating is essentially unchanged from his first in office, suggesting that his modest honeymoon continues. The Biden administration's efforts on the pandemic have largely been focused on vaccines, increasing both the supply and administration of them in the U.S. In addition to his work on vaccines, Biden has been working to address the economic effects of the coronavirus with a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. In addition, he has begun to roll back Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy and reach out to U.S. allies in the wake of Trump's strikingly low approval ratings from people around the world.
These latest findings are from a Gallup Feb. 3-18 poll, which was conducted as COVID-19 infections in the U.S. were declining after a post-holiday surge. Gallup's COVID-19 tracking survey recently found 66% of Americans dissatisfied with the vaccine rollout in the U.S., and they increasingly expect COVID-19-related disruptions to persist well into 2021. However, the public is also much more positive about the current COVID-19 situation in the U.S. Clearly, Americans are not yet holding Biden responsible for the perceived shortcomings.
Biden's approval rating on the pandemic contrasts with former President Donald Trump's significantly lower ratings for his handling of the coronavirus during much of last year. Trump's initial approval ratings for the pandemic response were quite positive, including 60% approving in March, as he took steps early on to address the disease. These included imposing travel bans, directing government resources toward vaccine development and signing COVID-19-relief bills.
Yet, by April, Trump's rating on his response to the pandemic had fallen to 50% as he was publicly questioning the advice of his administration's medical experts, including the use of masks in public, and largely leaving it to the states to develop strategies and find resources to battle the disease. By early June, his approval on the coronavirus was down to 42%, and it fell to 36% by mid-August. His final COVID-19 approval rating, in the latter half of October, was 40%, and a campaign post-mortem conducted by Trump campaign officials cited his response to COVID-19 as one of the main reasons he did not win reelection.
One-Third of Republicans Approve of Biden's Pandemic Response
Biden's current approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus includes 95% of Democrats, 66% of independents and 34% of Republicans. His pandemic response approval exceeds that of his overall performance because of much higher ratings from Republicans and, to a lesser extent, independents. Republicans' approval for Biden's pandemic response is 22 percentage points higher than their approval of his overall job performance. Among independents, the gap is 13 points, while Democrats offer nearly unanimous approval of both dimensions.
Partisans' approval ratings of Biden's handling of the economy and foreign affairs are similar to their overall job rating.
| Republican | Independent | Democrat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| Overall job | 12 | 53 | 96 |
| The response to the coronavirus | 34 | 66 | 95 |
| Foreign affairs | 15 | 54 | 92 |
| Economy | 12 | 54 | 90 |
| Gallup, Feb. 3-18, 2021 |
Comparisons of Approval Ratings of Biden and His Predecessors
Approval of Biden's overall job performance and his handling of the economy are lower than Barack Obama's scores, roughly on par with those of George W. Bush, and better than Trump's and Bill Clinton's at about the same points in their presidencies.
Biden's rating for handling foreign affairs is higher than those of Trump and Bush, and similar to those of Obama and Clinton.
Partisans' ratings of presidents reached a new level of polarization by the time Trump became president, and that persists today. Before Trump's presidency, at least one-quarter of Americans in the opposing party expressed approval of Obama's, Bush's and Clinton's overall job, as well as their handling of the economy and foreign affairs, early in their terms.
The gap between Republicans' and Democrats' overall job approval ratings of Biden is on par with the one for Trump, 84 points vs. 85 points, respectively. Meanwhile, the gaps between partisans' ratings of the economy and foreign affairs are similar for Biden and Trump.
| U.S. adults | Republican | Independent | Democrat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |
| Overall job | ||||
| Biden | 56 | 12 | 53 | 96 |
| Trump | 42 | 90 | 34 | 5 |
| Obama | 63 | 32 | 62 | 91 |
| G.W. Bush | 57 | 88 | 53 | 32 |
| Clinton | 51 | 24 | 49 | 74 |
| Economy | ||||
| Biden | 54 | 12 | 54 | 90 |
| Trump | 48 | 90 | 44 | 13 |
| Obama | 59 | 28 | 59 | 88 |
| G.W. Bush | 53 | 80 | 53 | 30 |
| Clinton | 45 | 26 | 42 | 63 |
| Foreign affairs | ||||
| Biden | 56 | 15 | 54 | 92 |
| Trump | 38 | 82 | 30 | 6 |
| Obama | 54 | 26 | 54 | 79 |
| G.W. Bush | 46 | 73 | 42 | 26 |
| Clinton | 53 | 39 | 51 | 67 |
| Feb. 3-18, 2021 (Biden); Feb. 1-5, 2017 (Trump); Feb. 9-12, 2009 (Obama); Feb. 1-4, 2001 (Bush); Feb. 12-14, 1993 (Clinton) |
Bottom Line
Biden continues to enjoy a honeymoon as president. His handling of the coronavirus pandemic may be a major reason for that, as one-third of Republicans and two-thirds of independents say they approve of his efforts. This level of approval from the opposition party is remarkable in today's politically polarized climate.
Due to the dire nature of the pandemic, the Biden administration had to hit the ground running upon taking office on Jan. 20, and they immediately worked to increase the supply and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Biden also quickly began work to get support for an economic relief package, and he rolled back a number of Trump's policies through a series of executive orders.
With the coronavirus pandemic the major challenge currently facing the U.S., Biden, like Trump, will increasingly be judged by whether there is marked improvement in the nation's coronavirus situation.
Explore President Biden's approval ratings and compare them with those of past presidents in the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center.
View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).
Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
Tags
Who is online
419 visitors
Joe Biden is doing a good job and people can tell...
Unlike the previous President, he takes the Covid situation seriously.
He is also recognizing and honoring the people who have passed. The only thought Trump had about them was that he hoped that they at least voted for him before they died.
Unlike the previous president he is kind, compassionate, intelligent and not insane.
He also seems to appreciate and listen to science.
I would be interested to know just how many people Gallup actually polled and what part of the country said poll was taken to achieve said results.
In many ways the poll mimics the election result.
The far right Trumpists will never accept him no matter how good of a job he does.
How could he not be doing a better job? He has to find something constructive to do with all the time the previous president used for tweeting and playing golf.
It's so nice having a President that takes Covid seriously, isn't out golfing, and who doesn't have twitter tantrums.
In other words, a President who does his job and doesn't treat it as some reality show. Right?
Exactly.
Biden’s own admission that there’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the epidemic after he was sworn in shows how silly this is. People believe he’s doing a good job because the media tells them he is. The reverse was true with Trump.
Biden himself knows the narrative is b.s., even if his gulllible minions happily swallow it.
Hard to swallow what you say, since it's just BS!
I believe that it was gullible minions that tried to "stop the steal" by attacking congress.
It was also his minions that sent money to a con artist for a bs stop the steal fund. That money went into his pockets instead.
"Gullible minions" believe the election was stolen, despite having no evidence whatsoever. To hold such a view at this point is beyond delusional. They probably also believe Covid is a hoax or that masks are just some government conspiracy to control people. And they probably hate Biden just out of spite or partisan principle. It's as if they are incapable of independent, rational thought and just follow wherever their political party or partisan beliefs tell them.
Biden's leadership is making the difference already!
What difference is that, specifically?
Joe has killed 100,000 people
And I bet you're another one that believes the economy was shit on 19JAN17 too.......
If for no other reason, Biden gets credit for the Topic crossing his lips, whereas your savior Trump couldn't even be bothered with it before or after the election.
Besides, if you're honest with the data, you'll notice that the curves for both infections and deaths are flattening since 20JAN21, or is that part of your deep-state conspiracy too?
Biden hasn't done a fucking thing, except write destructive EO's and to continue what Trump had already started.
Don't be fooled by a bunch of BS polls, when Biden hasn't done a lick of leading or making positive improvements.
Man it must suck to being so much of a Trump supporter these days..... Being in constant denial, pointing fingers, swearing to the lies of others.... so sorry for youu dude
President Biden is trying to rid us of Trumps's virus. Here hospitalizations are down and so are new cases. If Trump were still squatting in the WH, neither would be happening because he plain does not give a shit about those who are dying and those who have died.
What was the former occupant of the White House's plan?
To wait and hope Covid goes away. Which he said it will by summer. Yeah, how did that "plan" work out?
What an idiotic thing to write.
You'd think, after a year, people would have a basic understanding of how pandemics works and Biden even admitted he can't do anything to change it's course. Yet those ruled by their emotional response to Trump still invest an almost primitive superstitious belief that the leader magically makes diseases stop or start. It's the same rationality free mindset that led people to burn witches because the crop failed.
Biden's explicitly told you he can't do anything to change the course of the pandemic, yet the primitive pre civilization belief persists among the irrational left.
Sad to see.
He hasn't screwed anything up yet as near as I can tell. I guess that's good.
Well, he did stop the building on the wall at our Southern border and put thousands of people out of work. In my opinion that counts as screwing up without a second thought.
Trump was rushing to buid using military money intended for drug interdiction. Which is worse?
Get your facts straight. The funding was/came from 11 military construction funds - not drug interdiction.
FY2020 Defense Reprogrammings for Wall Funding: Backgrounder March 24,
2020 On February 13, 2020, the Department of Defense (DOD) transferred $3.8 billion from defense procurement programs to the Army Operation and Maintenance account for use by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the construction of 31 additional barrier projects along the southern border of the United States.
Trump is not the topic, Biden is.
I was thinking about just Covid, but you're not wrong.
C'mon, man.
A, typically only the seeder can flag something for off topic ( and he has not so far )
B, Trump is clearly mentioned in the article at least 10 times and the poll information 4 times
By any stretch of my imagination, Trump by way of the articles constant comparison, was very much part of the topic.
I believe it was a comparison article.
Biden has shut down all funding for the wall.
"Trump is diverting money from the Pentagon and the Treasury Department budgets that normally goes to local law enforcement to fight money laundering and drug trafficking , and to military construction projects, including housing for troops and their families."
What about those schools those funds should have been used for?