Biden Approval at 52% With High Marks for Covid Response: Poll

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Joe Biden received a 52% approval rating from Americans as he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, compared with 42% who disapprove, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Overall, 34% of respondents said they strongly approved of his performance while 35% said they strongly disapproved, according to the poll.

Americans were most approving of his response to the pandemic with 64% of adults, including 33% of Republicans, giving him positive marks. Approval for his handling of the economy was 52%, but 53% said they disapproved of how he’s tackled immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Respondents said by a two-to-one margin that Biden should be willing make “major changes” to his proposals to win Republican support, rather than proceed without them.

Donald Trump’s approval rating at the same point in his presidency was 42%, with disapproval at 53%. Biden’s net positive rating of 10 points, however, is far below that of previous presidents. Barack Obama’s net positive rating was 43 points near the end of his first 100 days, while George W. Bush’s was 31 points.

The poll was conducted by telephone April 18-21 among a random national sample of 1,007 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 points for the full sample.

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