President Biden begins his term in the White House with the approval of about half of Americans, according to a new Marist poll released Monday.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they approve of Biden’s job performance in the days since he took the oath of office, according to the survey. Meanwhile, thirty-five percent said they disapprove of the new president and 16 percent are unsure.
The poll shows that Biden is starting his first term as president in a stronger position than before President Trump
Donald TrumpBiden reverses Trump’s last-minute freeze attempt .4 billion programs Trump announces new legal dismissal team after reported departures as Republicans shoot to unify toward next election cycle MORE. The first Marist poll on Trump’s presidency, published in February 2017, showed the current president with only 39% approval.
Still, there remains a large partisan divide in perceptions about Biden’s job performance. Ninety-one percent of Democrats gave positive reviews to the new president, while 78 percent of Republicans said they disapprove of the work he is doing in the White House.
Meanwhile, a plurality of independents – 46 percent – said they approve of Biden’s job performance so far, while 32 percent said they disapprove and 22 percent said they are unsure, according to the Marist survey.
The majority of Americans (55%) believe that Biden does more to unite the country than to divide it. This includes 91% of Democrats, 54% of Independents and 17% of Republicans. About a third of respondents, 35%, said they believe Biden is worsening divisions in the US
Biden is also seen by 47 percent of Americans as working to change the country for the better. By contrast, 32 percent said they are taking the U.S. in a worse direction, according to the poll.
Still, this suggests that Americans generally have a more positive impression of Biden than Trump after he took office.
In February 2017, 38% of Americans said Trump was taking the country in a more positive direction. Another 43 percent at the time said they were pushing the U.S. in the wrong direction.
“In his first weeks in office, President Biden has achieved a higher approval rating than former President Trump at any time in his four years,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Survey. “However, Biden still hopes to convince the Americans who are on the fence, especially the independents, and close the huge partisan divide. This is a more daunting challenge. “
The Marist survey is based on the responses of 1,313 American adults gathered from January 24-27. The margin of sampling error is 3.3 percentage points.