In newly available polling from CBS, President Joe Biden garnered the overall approval of a majority of respondents, marking yet another instance when the current commander-in-chief has significantly outperformed Donald Trump according to this metric. In the CBS survey, a full 58 percent of overall respondents said that they approve of Biden’s job performance, while 42 percent of overall respondents indicated that they disapprove. For comparison, during his presidency, Donald Trump never even hit 50 percent overall approval in the weighted average from FiveThirtyEight of relevant surveys.
In the new CBS poll, Biden also received the support of substantial numbers of Americans regarding his handling of certain, specific issues. A full 66 percent of respondents indicated that they believe that Biden is doing a “good job” handling COVID-19, while only 34 percent of respondents said the opposite — which seems interesting, since it’s normally those who oppose Biden who disregard the seriousness of the pandemic altogether. Evidently, opposing Biden takes priority for certain people over approaching the pandemic with committed flippancy.
Meanwhile, majorities of respondents indicated that they think positively of Biden’s handling of issues including climate change, race relations, and the economy, while 49 percent of respondents indicated approval for his handling of both crime and policing, and 47 percent of respondents said that they approve of his handling of immigration. The Biden administration has sought to impose a less antagonistic immigration policy framework than what the Trump team had in place. For instance, Attorney General Merrick Garland has cancelled decisions from the Trump era that made obtaining asylum more difficult for victims of domestic and gang violence.
Going forward, high levels of approval for Biden among the general public suggest that Democrats will do well in the upcoming midterm elections. Trump was never overwhelmingly popular among Americans while in office, and his political party lost control of the House two years into his term. This time, however, circumstances are different for the political party that’s in control at the White House. The Biden administration has been working to support Americans through means like ambitious economic assistance, including an increased child tax credit that began going out to American parents this month.
