WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden has a higher approval rating after one week in office than Donald Trump did in his entire presidency, a new poll found yesterday.
A Monmouth University poll showed 54% of Americans approving of Biden's performance and 30% disapproving.
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%, a record low.
A Morning Consult tracking poll published Monday gave Biden 56% approval and 34% disapproval. Another poll released Monday, by Hill-HarrisX, showed Biden with 63% approval.
Despite the strong showing for the Democrat, the results also demonstrate severe polarisation in the US after Trump's four-year term.
In the Monmouth poll, Biden won 90% approval from Democrats but only 47% from independents and 15% from Republicans.
"Overall, there seems to be more goodwill for Biden than there was for Trump, but it really breaks down along partisan lines. Right now, more people identify as Democrats than Republicans," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
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.
Barack Obama had an average of 60% approval in his first half year and his predecessor George W. Bush had 53.9%.
Trump, by contrast, had an average approval rating of 41.4% in his first six months. – AFP, January 28, 2021
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