Biden polls positive for first 100 days in office

WASHINGTON: A majority of Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s performance during his first 100 days in office, three new polls found Sunday.

Overall, the polls showed a range of 52-58 percent of US adults who say they approve of the job Biden is doing, compared with 39-42 percent who say they disapprove.

But the positive ratings are divided along party lines: about 90 percent of Democrats say they approve of Biden’s performance, while only nine to 13 percent of Republicans do.

Biden’s performance is far higher than predecessor Donald Trump achieved in his entire presidency.

Trump spent most of his presidency with ratings in the low 40s, and left office on January 20 with a Gallup poll approval of just 34 percent, a record low.

A poll by CBS gives Biden the highest ranking, with 58 percent approval and 42 percent disapproval.

NBC found that 53 percent of adults approve, while 39 percent disapprove.

And a poll by ABC and The Washington Post showed a 52 percent overall approval rating and a 42 percent disapproval rating.

Biden’s strongest performance across the board was for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 64-69 percent approval.

However, the polls found that vaccine hesitancy has increased, with CBS showing that 19 percent of Republicans say they might get the vaccine, and 30 percent saying they won’t get it at all.

Additionally, Biden received the weakest marks for how he has dealt with the migration situation at the US-Mexico border.

The ABC poll found that only 37 percent of adults approved of his approach to the border, while NBC found that only 33 percent of adults approved.

While Biden’s overall performance so far is generally higher than Trump’s, it is lower than that of Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president.

Obama had an average of 60 percent approval in his first half year and his predecessor George W. Bush had 53.9 percent.

Trump, by contrast, had an average approval rating of 41.4 percent in his first six months.

According to data from the fivethirtyeight.com site, Trump was the first president in half a century not to enjoy a honeymoon period with substantially better polling in the first six months.