Biden's Approval Rating About 9 Points Higher Compared With Trump on Day 50 In Office
President Joe Biden's average approval rating is about 9 percent higher than former President Donald Trump's halfway through the first 100 days of their respective administrations.
Trump routinely claimed to be the most popular and greatest president in U.S. history, but such assertion was not supported by opinion polling data. According to Gallup, Trump was the first president since the firm started tracking presidential approval back in 1938 to never see his approval rating rise above 50 percent. Meanwhile, Biden entered office with his approval rating above 50 percent.
As Biden goes through his 50th day as president, the average of approval rating polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight shows the president is currently supported by about 53.4 percent of voters across the country. Comparatively, just 44.5 percent backed Trump at the same point in his White House tenure. Meanwhile, 38.8 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden compared to 49 percent who felt similarly of Trump at the same point of his presidency back in 2017.
Gallup's polling data shows that Trump's approval rating stood at about 40 percent in March 2017. Comparatively, Gallup's survey data now shows Biden with an approval rating of 56 percent. A new CNN poll shows more modest support for the new president however, with just 51 percent of respondents saying they approve of how Biden is handling the presidency thus far. A poll conducted by CNN in early March 2017 showed about 45 percent of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing at the time—6 points below where Biden stands now.
Recent polls have also shown significant bipartisan support for Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—which provides a round of $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, shores up additional weekly federal unemployment benefits, and significantly expands the child tax credit.
A survey conducted in late February by Morning Consult showed that more than three-quarters (76 percent) of voters backed the package. That included 60 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of independents, and 89 percent of Democrats. Another recent poll by Data for Progress showed that 68 percent of Americans supported the massive stimulus package. That included 54 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of independents, and 84 percent of Democrats.
Despite Biden's positive approval rating and bipartisan support for his administration's first major piece of legislation, Republicans have largely unified against the president. They have come out strongly against the American Rescue Plan, with no GOP lawmakers in Washington, D.C. voting in favor of the package.
