POUGHKEEPSIE – Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) approve of President Joe Biden’s job performance. That is according to a Marist College/PBS poll released on Monday.
A majority of Americans (55 percent) perceive Biden to be doing more to unite the country than to divide it, and a plurality (47 percent) consider Biden to be changing the nation for the better.
These findings are in stark contrast with the impressions of Donald Trump shortly after he took office in 2017.
∙ 49 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance. 35 percent disapprove. 16 percent are unsure. 25 percent of residents strongly approve, and 24 percent strongly disapprove. Trump’s first approval rating in February 2017 was 39 percent.
∙ 91 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s performance in office. 78 percent of Republicans disapprove. 46 percent of independents approve, 32 percent disapprove, and 22 percent are unsure.
∙ 55 percent of Americans — including 91 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents, and even 17 percent of Republicans — perceive Biden to be doing more to unite the country than divide it (35 percent). In 2017, 36 percent reported that Donald Trump was uniting the nation, and 57 percent said he was dividing it.
∙ 47 percent of Americans say Biden is changing the direction of the nation for the better while 32 percent say he is making it worse .
At the beginning of Trump’s presidency, 38 percent reported he was a positive force for the nation, and 43 percent thought he was a negative one.
As the U.S. Senate considers an impeachment trial, 50 percent of Americans think the Senate should convict Trump on the charge of inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; 41 percent think Trump should be acquitted.
Opinions fall along partisan lines.
