Biden sees sharp partisan divide over performance one week into presidency: poll

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One week into his tenure in the White House, a new national poll indicates that 54% of Americans approve of the job President Biden’s doing so far, with 30% giving Biden a thumbs down.

The president’s initial approval rating in the Monmouth University survey released Wednesday is higher than it was at any point in Monmouth polling during former President Trump’s four years in office. But the survey indicates that the sharp partisan divide over presidential approval during the Trump years remains intact the opening days of the Biden presidency.

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According to the survey, 90% of Democrats approve of the job Biden’s doing. But that number plunges to 15% among Republicans. Among independents, 47% approve and 30% disapprove of the job Biden’s doing steering the country.

"Overall, there seems to be more goodwill for Biden than there was for Trump, but it really breaks down along partisan lines. Right now, more people identify as Democrats than Republicans," Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray highlighted.

The wide partisan divide seen in the Monmouth poll – which appears to be the first live telephone operator survey measuring the new president’s approval rating – was also evident other new national polls.

After four years of Trump’s turbulent presidency, Biden entered the White House preaching unity in order to tackle the worst pandemic in a century and the most devastating economic downturn in more than eight decades. The Monmouth poll indicates that while Americans want bipartisan cooperation in the nation’s capital, only a minority are very confident the president will be able to achieve cooperation between the two major political parties.

 More than seven in ten said they would rather see Republicans in Congress find ways to work together with Biden than to focus on keeping Biden in check. That’s up nearly 10 points since November.  But while the survey finds that six in 10 Americans have at least some confidence that Biden will be able to get Washington to be more cooperative, just one in five are very confident.

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"Bipartisanship is certainly an aspiration for the Biden era, but public optimism about achieving it is a bit muted," Murray noted.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted Jan. 21-24, with 809 adult Americans questioned by live telephone operators. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.