Biden approval drops to lowest of presidency, says poll

New York - 44 per cent of US adults approved of Biden’s performance in office, while 50 per cent disapproved

Public approval of US President Joe Biden has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans appearing to be increasingly critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

The national poll, conducted September 15-16, found that 44 per cent of US adults approved of Biden’s performance in office, while 50 per cent disapproved and the rest were not sure.

Biden’s popularity has been declining since mid-August as the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and as Covid-19-related deaths surged across the country.

While most Americans support the kind of vaccine and mask requirements that Biden has ordered recently to slow the spread of the Delta variant, some Republicans have criticised what they consider to be an overreaction by the White House.

The weekly poll showed the number of Americans who approved of Biden’s response to the pandemic dropped below 50 per cent for the first time: About 48 per cent approved of the president’s Covid-19 policies, while 46 per cent disapproved.

At the same point in Donald Trump’s presidency, about 38 per cent of Americans approved of his performance in office, while 57 per cent disapproved.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English throughout the United States. The latest poll gathered responses from 1,005 adults in total including 442 Democrats and 360 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.

• Americas