President Biden begins his term in the White House with the approval of about half of Americans, according to a new Marist poll released Monday.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they approve of Biden’s performance in the days since he took the oath, the poll found. Thirty-five percent, meanwhile, said they did not approve of the new president and 16 percent were unsure.
The poll shows that Biden is starting his first term as president in a stronger position than before President Trump
Donald TrumpBiden reversing Trump’s last-minute attempt to freeze 4 billion programs, Trump announces a new legal team for indictment after it is reported that Republicans are leaving to unite the next election cycle MORE.. The first Marist poll on Trump’s presidency, launched in February 2017, showed the current president with only 39 percent approval.
There is still a wide division in the perception of Biden’s performance. Ninety-one percent of Democrats gave the new president positive reviews, while 78 percent of Republicans said they did not disapprove of the work he does in the White House.
Meanwhile, a number of independents – 46 per cent – said they have so far approved Biden’s performance, while 32 per cent said they did not approve, and 22 per cent said they were not sure, according to the Marist- poll.
A majority of Americans – 55 percent – believe that Biden is doing more to unite the country than to divide it. That includes 91 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents and 17 percent of Republicans. About a third of respondents – 35 percent – said they believe Biden exacerbates divisions in the US
Biden is also considered by 47 percent of Americans to be changing the country for the better. Conversely, 32 percent said he was taking the U.S. in a worse direction, the poll found.
It still suggests that Americans generally have a more positive impression of Biden than they did of Trump after taking office.
In February 2017, 38 percent of Americans said Trump was taking the country in a more positive direction. Another 43 percent said at the time that he was pushing the US in the wrong direction.
“In his first week in office, President Biden received higher approval than former President Trump at any stage in his four years,” said Marist Poll director Lee Miringoff. “Yet Biden still hopes to convince Americans who are especially on the fence, especially independents, and close the big biased gap. This is a more discouraging challenge. ”
The Marist poll is based on responses from 1,313 American adults collected from January 24 to 27. The sample error is 3.3 percentage points.