As President Joe Biden marks his first 100 days in office, a new research poll indicates that he has one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in modern history.
The ABC News/The Washington Post poll found Biden’s approval rating (52 percent) to be the third-lowest for any president in their first 100 days in office since Harry Truman’s presidency in 1945.
In 1974, Gerald Ford received an approval rating of 48 percent following his controversial pardon of Richard Nixon. Donald Trump, however, got an even lower rating in 2017 with 42 percent, the lowest of any president since Truman.
The 100-day average for the 14 presidents between Truman and Biden is 66 percent.
Despite the low approval rating, Biden was praised for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic (65 percent) and his pandemic relief package (64 percent). Many respondents also approved Biden’s proposal to raise corporate taxes (58 percent).
The results regarding Biden’s handling of the economy and his multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure package were mixed, with just 52 percent approving of Biden’s handling of the economy and 52 percent approving of his multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure.
On immigration, Biden did not receive a high approval rating for his handling of the border crisis, which was only met with 37 percent.
The research revealed a close approval rating between public preference for a smaller government (48 percent) and one for a larger government (45 percent). On the other hand, 53 percent say they are concerned that Biden will do too much to increase the size and role of the U.S. government in society, while 40 percent see him as “too liberal”.
Biden’s approval rating reflects the intense partisanship in recent years. Only 13 percent of Republicans approve of the president’s first 100 days, which is the exact approval that Democrats gave Trump in 2017.
The ABC/Washington Post poll was conducted over the phone in English and Spanish from April 18 to 21, 2021. The poll had a sample size of 1,007 adults.
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
