In his opening address a year ago, President Joe Biden supported unity, promising a strong administration agenda and making defeating the coronavirus a priority.
Now, when Biden starts second year is the president, Most Americans give him low marks to unify the country, have the capacity and ability to handle the crisis, according to the results from a new country NBC News poll.
Furthermore, 6 in 10 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, while more than half support his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The overall rating of his work among adults was 43% in favor and 54% in disapproval – essentially unchanged from the October survey. (Among registered voters. signed, 44 percent agreed, 54 percent disagreed.)
But it is the numbers below Biden’s approval rating that paint a bleak picture for the White House, the bipartisan polling team that conducted the NBC News survey said.
Biden’s position among key segments of the Democratic base has eroded while only 15% of Americans strongly approve of his work record, compared with 43% who strongly oppose and only 5% believe his presidency was better than expected.
“This poll would have to be described as bleak, discouraging and truly awful,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates added: “One year into his presidency, Joe Biden’s standing with the American people is dwindling and he’s shorter than he was when he entered the White House. “
Mr. Biden’s first year as president has been fraught with success economically, on the coronavirus and on parts of his legislative agenda.
“We’ve gone from 2 million vaccinated people the time I took the oath of office to 210 million fully vaccinated Americans today. We’ve created 6 million new jobs. … Rate unemployment dropped to 3.9%”. he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Now, thanks to a bipartisan infrastructure bill, we’re about to make a record investment in rebuilding America.”
But in his first year in office, Biden’s approval rating has dropped 10 points – from 53% in an NBC News poll in April to 43% today.
With just one exception (Donald Trump at 39%), it was the lowest approval rating for a president to end the first year in the history of the NBC News poll.
Biden’s approval fell among independents (from 68 percent in April to 36 percent now), blacks (83 percent to 64 percent), 18- to 34-year-olds (56 percent to 40 percent), Latinos (59 percent to 48 percent) and women. (61 percent to 51 percent).
About coronavirus and the economy
Just 44% of Americans say they approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus, down 7 points from October. That’s compared with 53% of those who say they disapprove of his handling of the pandemic. .
Thirty-eight percent approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 60 percent disapprove.
And only 37% approve of his handling of foreign policy and relations with Russia.
Additionally, the poll found that just 5% said Biden’s presidency had been better than expected, with 36% saying it was worse than expected and 59% saying it went as expected. wait.
5% said that Biden’s presidency was better than expected which was the lowest for any president on this question regarding Bill Clinton in 1994.
And a majority of respondents – 42% – say Biden is too unwilling to compromise, 23% say he is too willing to compromise and 27% say he has found the right balance.
Evaluate Biden’s presidential qualities
Finally, the NBC News poll rated Biden on eight presidential qualities.
His best score is enough knowledge and experience to handle the job, with 44% of respondents giving him a “4” or “5” on a 5-point scale – although this number is down. compared to 55% who gave him high marks. A year ago.
His worst scores were in capacity and efficiency (51% gave him a “1” or “2”), in terms of crisis management (52%) and reunification (53%).
When NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked Biden on Wednesday whether the country is more united today than when he first took office, he replied, “Based on some of the work we’ve done, I say yes.
“But it’s not nearly as uniform as it should be.”
The NBC News poll of 1,000 adults – 650 of whom were contacted by cell phone – were taken between January 14 and 18 and had a total margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The rest of the voting will be announced in the coming days.
