In the first Morning Consult survey of public opinions on President Joe Biden’s job performance in office, Biden hit a higher level of approval than ex-President Donald Trump got in Morning Consult’s numbers at any point in his term. In the new survey, a full 56 percent of respondents overall said that they approved of Biden’s initial job performance in office, with only 34 percent of respondents overall saying that they disapprove. Trump got his highest level of approval, according to Morning Consult’s numbers in particular, in early March 2017, when 52 percent of respondents overall said that they approved of his job performance.
Morning Consult: Biden's initial approval rating is higher than Trump's ever was.
During Biden's first few days in office, 56% of voters approve of his job performance.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 27, 2021
At a point in early 2017 closer to the present point of Biden’s tenure, merely 46 percent of respondents overall said that they approved of then-President Trump’s job performance, meaning that Biden has improved upon Trump’s initial numbers by some 10 percent, which is no small feat! In the new survey, 10 percent of respondents overall said that they had no conclusive opinion on Biden’s initial job performance in office. Among particular groups, Biden scored approval for his job performance from 91 percent of Democrats, 49 percent of independents, and a full 18 percent of Republicans — which, while comparatively low, might be higher than conspiracy-driven Republican leaders would expect.
Morning Consult also asked respondents whether they had a favorable or unfavorable view of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and both leaders fared well. In the post-inauguration survey, 58 percent of respondents overall indicated that they held a favorable view of Biden, while 52 percent of respondents overall said the same of Harris. Among Republicans in particular, 18 percent of respondents said that they held a favorable view of Biden, and 14 percent said the same of Harris. (Comparatively larger portions of respondents said that they had no conclusive opinion of Harris, lowering her other numbers.)
The relatively high levels of support for Biden and Harris suggest that Democrats could fare well in upcoming elections, assuming that the present national political alignment stays generally in place. Democrats could have a chance for Senate success in 2022 — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is not running for re-election and his seat will be on the ballot. Pennsylvania’s other Senator is already a Democrat, and Biden won the recent presidential race in the state in November.
