Chuck Todd: Biden's 53 percent approval rating is 'the new 60'

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Biden to give first address to Congress with 'limited attendance' April 28th

Real Clear Politics White House reporter Phil Wegmann joins 'FOX Report' to discuss the president's anticipated speech

"Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd praised President Biden for the 53 percent approval rating he received in a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, a number that Todd said is "the new 60" in an appearance on the "TODAY" show on Sunday. The numbers come just shy of Biden's first 100 days in office.

"He's riding the momentum of a recovering eocnomy and the escalation of the vaccinations," Todd suggested.

Todd noted that some may argue that the uptick in vaccine distribution might have happened whether Biden was president or not, but "at the end of the day, this is happening on his watch."

"And things looked like they weren't going to go well," Todd said. "He took over and things seemed to smooth out. Some might argue they always would have, but it doesn't matter it's on his watch. And that has given him political capital."

"And anytime you're over 50 in this polarized environment that's really solid," Todd added. "It's sort of the new 60 percent of the way when you and I grew up in the 80s and 90s." 

There are "warning signs," Todd admits. Americans' approval of Biden's effort on immigration and taxes are "upside down." But Todd says the public's discontent in those areas are "not bad enough" to impact his overall number.

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Soon after he was sworn in, President Biden signed several executive orders into law that reversed President Trump's border agenda. Now, the numbers of migrants coming across the border is ovewhelming, with a record amount of unaccompanied children arriving in the States. Biden appointed Vice President Kamala Harris as his border czar, but critics note that she has yet to hold a press conference to discuss how she plans to address the crisis. 

"TODAY" anchor Willie Geist noted that relative to past presidents, Biden's approval at this stage isn't all that high. President Obama had a 61 percent approval rating at this time in office, but compared to his predecessor President Trump and "given where we are in the country, it's a pretty decent number," Geist argues.

A new Fox News poll put Biden's approval rating at 54% and also found that Americans are souring on his immigration and economic agendas. By a 31-point margin, voters agree that border security is worse than it was two years ago, a 56 percent majority thinks Biden winning the election is completely or mostly behind the increase of migrants at the U.S. southern border, and 67 percent are extremely or very concerned about illegal immigration. As for the state of the economy, only 29 percent rate it as excellent/good and 69 percent say it's fair/poor. 

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President Biden will deliver his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday, April 28. Republicans like Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., have ripped Biden for waiting so long to address Congress and for delivering the speech during a week when most lawmakers will be out of town.

"President Biden, for his State of the Union, will be addressing an empty room with only special, hand picked members of Congress," Mace tweeted. 

"Basement Biden is back," she added.