WASHINGTON (AP) – Joe Biden enjoys an early presidential honeymoon, with 60% of Americans approving his performance so far, and even more support for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research.
At a time of deep political polarization in America, support for Biden’s pandemic response stretches across party lines. Overall, 70% of Americans support the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans.
Biden has growing American skepticism about the economy, which was hit by the pandemic. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of Biden’s approach to the economy so far, and 63 percent believe the U.S. economy is in a weak state, according to the AP-NORC survey. Republicans are also less likely to support Biden in the economy than with the pandemic, with only 17% supporting its fiscal stewardship.
Less than two months in his presidency, Biden set the pandemic as his main focus and urged Americans to follow guidelines for social distancing and masking and promised to speed up the distribution of critical vaccines.. He also argued that until the spread of the virus is under control, the economy will not fully recover.
To address financial shortfalls in the meantime, he calls on Congress to adopt a $ 1.9 billion rescue pandemic plan It would provide direct payments to millions of Americans and raise funds in state and local governments.
The measure has already passed at home. But Biden must compromise to hold all Democratic senators in support of the measure, including agreeing this week to limit liability for $ 1,400 stimulus checks. In a concession to moderate Democratic senators, Biden has agreed that individuals earning more than $ 80,000 annually and couples earning more than $ 160,000 will receive no benefits. Biden’s original proposal extended the stimulus funds to Americans with higher annual wages.
The administration estimates that 158.5 million households will still receive checks under the Senate compromise.
The prospect of a pandemic bill is welcome news for John Villegas, 58, an Illinois Democrat who supports Biden’s handling of the virus response and the economy.
“With the closure of so many businesses, a lot of people are suffering,” Villegas said, calling Biden’s approach a “180-degree shift” from his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Trump argued that the U.S. economy could not afford the hit due to the imposition of restrictions on business and travel. The worst fears of economists were averted as states followed through Republican Trump’s leadership and resisted restrictions, but COVID-19 cases soared. More than 520,000 people died in the United States of the virus of recent years.
Despite their different approaches to managing the economy during the pandemic, Biden’s approval rating of the economy is similar to Trump’s, whose handling of the economy since the virus was taken over is consistently supported by about half of Americans. The main difference: that level of support has made Trump’s strongest problem, while it’s a relative weakness for Biden compared to Americans’ views on his handling of the pandemic and other issues.
In a reflection of the bias that is still raging in the US, many Americans’ views of the economy have changed since the new president was inaugurated. In December, 67% of Republicans and only 15% of Democrats described the economy as good. Now 35% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats describe the economy positively. There were few changes in overall growth or unemployment during that time.
Biden’s handling of the pandemic could possibly determine the course of his presidency and the political capital he has to pursue important legislation on other matters. Democrats are urgently working to draw up accounts that address infrastructure investments, policing reforms a right to vote. Biden also promised to tackle climate change and build on the extensive health insurance measure signed into law when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president.
His promises of action gave him thorough approval on some of these fronts. About 6 in 10 Americans, for example, say they approve of Biden’s health care and race relations treatment.
Overall, 48% of Americans say the country is heading in the right direction, compared to 37% who said so in December. The poll also shows that 43% of Americans expect things to get better in the country in the next year, while 34% think it will get worse and 23% think it will stay about the same.
Biden himself deliberately cautiously predicted when life in the US would return to a pre-pandemic normal. Even though he promises that the US will have enough vaccine by the end of May for all Americans, he said it could be the end of the year or early 2022 before Americans can stop wearing masks or return to normal activities altogether.
His team’s goal to set expectations? Undermine, then deliver too much.
___
The AP-NORC survey of 1,434 adults was conducted from February 23 to March 1, using a sample from the NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel that is likely to be based, designed to be representative of the American population. The sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
___
Online:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/.