President Joe Biden had a higher job approval rating just two days into his term than Donald Trump enjoyed during his four years as commander-in-chief.
In a new poll from The Hill-HarrisX conducted January 21-22, registered voters were asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing overall?” In response, 63 percent said they approved, while 37 percent disapproved.
Most of his support came from Democratic voters, 94 percent of whom approved, followed by 62 percent of independents. But more than two-thirds of Republican voters, 70 percent, disapproved.
The highest mark Trump achieved in a HarrisX poll during his presidency was 51 percent job approval, which occurred in August 2018 and early May last year. In the last survey conducted before he left office, Trump had a 44 percent approval rating among registered voters.
In fact, Trump was a historically unpopular president. According to Gallup, which started tracking presidential performance in 1938, Trump had an average approval rating of 41 percent during his time in the White House—lower than any other commander-in-chief in modern history.
Even before Biden was sworn into office on January 20, he enjoyed a significantly higher approval rating than Trump had after the 2016 election. A Gallup survey released days before the inauguration found more than two-thirds of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s -transition performance.
To address the coronavirus pandemic, Biden launched a “100 Days Masking Challenge,” asking Americans to wear masks for 100 days, and required mask-wearing in airports and on certain modes of transportation. He also signed an order to accelerate manufacturing and delivery of supplies for vaccination, testing and personal protective equipment.
In the poll, Biden saw the most support on handling the coronavirus pandemic. Sixty-nine percent of registered voters approved of how he was handling the health crisis compared to 31 percent who disapproved.
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 941 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3.19 percentage points.
