In a brand new Hill-HarrisX survey, a full 60 percent of respondents approve of the job that Joe Biden is doing as president, indicating a strikingly high level of support for the current commander-in-chief among the general population. According to a weighted average by FiveThirtyEight of approval polls of Donald Trump from before he left office, Trump exited the presidency with the approval of under 40 percent of Americans, meaning that Biden has soared past the point at which Trump stood on public approval.
In the new Hill-HarrisX survey, Biden also had high public approval for his handling of specific issues. For instance, a full 68 percent of overall respondents said that they approve of the job that Biden is doing handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout recent weeks, vaccinations against COVID-19 across the U.S. have starkly increased, helping pave the way for a gradual return to at least a semblance of pre-pandemic life. Even on the always hot button issue of immigration, a full 49 percent of respondents said that they approve of the job Biden is doing in the new Hill-HarrisX poll.
According to the weighted average by FiveThirtyEight of approval polls of Biden, a full 54.2 percent of Americans (on average) approve of the job that the current commander-in-chief is doing in office, as of early this Saturday. Key policy proposals that Biden has put forward, including this year’s COVID-19 economic relief package and an infrastructure spending plan, have also gotten relatively high support in polling.
These high levels of approval for Biden could help boost the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterm elections, when control of both houses of Congress will be at stake. In the Senate, Democrats have at least a couple of good opportunities for pick-ups — in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the Cook Political Report rates currently GOP-held Senate seats that will be on the ballot in 2022 as toss-ups. They don’t rate any currently Democratic-held Senate seats that will be on the ballot in 2022 in the same fashion.
