WASHINGTON (AP) – Joe Biden is enjoying a presidential honeymoon, with 60% of Americans approving his work so far and giving even more support to his treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
At a time of deep political polarization in America, support for the Biden pandemic response it extends along party lines. Overall, 70% of Americans support Democratic management of the Democratic virus by the Democratic president, including 44% of Republicans.
Still, Biden faces more skepticism from Americans about the economy, which has been mistreated by the pandemic. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of Biden’s approach to the economy so far and 63% say the U.S. economy is in a bad state, according to the AP-NORC survey. Republicans are also less likely to support Biden in the economy than in the pandemic, with only 17% supporting his tax administration.
Less than two months from his presidency, Biden has made the pandemic its central focus, urging Americans to follow strict guidelines of social distancing and masking and promising to accelerate the distribution of critical vaccines. He has also argued that until the spread of the virus is under control, the economy will not fully recover.
Meanwhile, to address financial shortcomings, calls on Congress to approve $ 1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan this would provide direct payments to millions of Americans and increase funding to state and local governments.
The measure has already been approved by the House. But Biden has to make commitments to keep all Democratic senators in support of the measure, including agreeing this week to restrict eligibility for $ 1,400 stimulus control. In a grant to moderate Democratic senators, Biden agreed that people who earn more than $ 80,000 a year and couples who earn more than $ 160,000 will not receive any benefits. Biden’s original proposal extended stimulus funds to Americans with higher annual salaries.
The administration estimates that 158.5 million households will still receive checks under Senate commitment.
The prospect of a pandemic relief bill is good news for 58-year-old Illinois Democrat John Villegas, who supports Biden’s management of both the virus response and the economy. .
“With the closure of so many companies, there are a lot of people who suffer,” said Villegas, who defined Biden’s approach as a “180-degree change” from his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Trump argued that the U.S. economy could not afford the success of enacting travel and business restrictions. The worst fears of economists were averted as Republican-led states followed Trump’s leadership and resisted restrictions, but COVID-19 cases skyrocketed. More than 520,000 people have died in the United States due to the virus over the past year.
Despite his different approaches to managing the economy during the pandemic, Biden’s approval ratings in the economy are similar to those of Trump, the management of the economy since he took over the virus was constantly supported. by about half of Americans. The key difference: This level of support made the economy Trump’s strongest issue, although it’s a relative weakness for Biden compared to Americans’ views on his treatment of the pandemic and other issues. .
In a reflection of partisanship that continues to rage in the United States, the views of the economy of many Americans have changed since the new president was inaugurated.. In December, 67% of Republicans and only 15% of Democrats described the economy as good. Now, 35% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats describe the economy positively. During this time, there have been few changes in overall growth or unemployment.
Biden’s treatment of the pandemic may determine the course of his presidency and the political capital he has to pursue important legislation on other issues. Democrats are working urgently to introduce infrastructure investment bills, police reforms and voting rights. Biden has also promised to tackle climate change and take advantage of great health insurance measure signed into law when he served as vice president of Barack Obama.
His promises of action have given him solid ratings of approval on some of these fronts. For example, about 6 out of ten Americans say they approve of Biden’s handling of health and racial relations.
Overall, 48% of Americans say the country is going in the right direction, compared to 37% who said so in December. The survey also shows that 43% of Americans expect things in the country to generally improve next year, while 34% believe things will get worse and 23% believe they will remain the same.
Biden himself has been deliberately cautious in predicting when life in the U.S. will return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Although he promises that the United States will have enough supply of vaccines for all Americans in late May, he has said it could be the end of the year or early 2022 before Americans can stop wearing masks or return to normal activities altogether.
The goal of your team when setting expectations? Promise yourself and then give in excess.
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The AP-NORC survey of 1,434 adults was conducted from Feb. 23 to March 1 using a sample drawn from the AmeriSpeak panel based on NORC probabilities, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is approximately 3.4 percentage points.
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On line:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/.