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What Americans think about their government
How popular is Joe Biden?
Weekly opinion polls from The Economist and YouGov, tracking Joe Biden’s approval ratings and the issues that are most important to voters
SINCE 2009 The Economist has collaborated with YouGov, an online pollster, to conduct a regular political poll. Each week, YouGov asks 1,500 adult citizens how they feel about a range of issues—from presidential job-approval, to relevant news events, to important government policy proposals and the state of the economy. We have collected the results of each survey to present a series of interactive data visualisations that explores what America has thought about politics and policy for every week over the past decade.
Presidential approval
Whether Americans approve or disapprove of the job their president is doing is perhaps the single most frequently asked question in political polling. On average, presidents need to have an approval rating that is roughly five to ten percentage points higher than their disapproval rating to have a decent shot at re-election, or to put enough pressure on Congress to pass their agenda. Anything less and they risk backlash from the public and the stalling of the government’s programme. In the chart below, you can see trends in presidential approval for the past three presidents and selected approval ratings for Mr Biden from different demographic groups.
Issues and policy
Joe Biden began his presidency by passing a massively popular economic stimulus and covid-19 relief bill. He ended his first 100 days, and will begin the rest of his presidency, trying to get Republicans in Washington on board with an ambitious infrastructure-spending bill, which the public also favours. Mr Biden has also pledged to find a leading role for America in tackling climate change, and has said he wants to to restore and strengthen America’s traditional foreign alliances. Each policy marks a break with the previous administration.
As his presidency moves forward, Mr Biden faces new challenges. The share of Americans who view crime and criminal-justice reform, immigration or gun control as the country’s most important problem is on the rise, with these issues gaining importance at the expense of health care, the economy, and government spending.
Joe Biden’s policy agenda has so far been very popular with voters. According to data compiled by Christopher Warshaw, a professor at George Washington University, and supplemented by YouGov’s polling, the Democrat’s economic and infrastructure stimulus packages are particularly popular. Ranked by popularity against the main policies of recent presidencies, from both executive and legislative branches, Mr Biden’s are in the top half.
But polls suggest the Democratic Party’s positions on issues such as gun control and the border are much less popular than its ideas on government spending and economic stimulus. This could be a potential barrier to future policy initiatives. Moreover, Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have pledged to oppose Mr Biden’s agenda, regardless of how popular it is, even with their own voters.
Return to this page each week for our newest The Economist/YouGov polling numbers about the public’s opinion towards their government. You can read about YouGov’s methodology here.
Sources: YouGov; Christopher Warshaw; The Economist