While 51% of Voters Approve of Biden's Performance, Only 25% Approve of Congress

A recent study by the George Washington University Politics Poll shows that the majority of voters are in favor of President Joe Biden's performance as commander-in-chief, though the job Congress is doing is considerably less popular.

The poll, which was released on July 26 shows that 51 percent approved of President Biden's performance as chief executive; 47 percent did not approve of the way he was handling the job as president. When it came to Congress, only 25 percent of respondents approved of their performance, with 69 percent disapproving.

The George Washington University Politics Poll also showed that Democratic voters have more faith in state and local elections than Republicans. The trust in current political affairs is higher in Biden states than in Trump states.

"Most of the state and local officials who run our elections are long-time public servants whose goal is simply to help our democracy operate smoothly," said Danny Hayes, professor of political science and co-director of the recent poll.

"But if we've gotten to a place where voters trust the electoral system only when their side wins, then that undermines the idea of non-partisan election administration, which is essential for democracy."

Other statistics from the poll show that 82 of Republicans agree with the sentiment that "It is hard to trust the results of elections when so many people will vote for anyone who offers a handout." A mere 15 percent of Democratic voters agreed.

Support for pertinent issues such as free and fair elections, free speech and peaceful protest are of equal voting percentage among both Democrats and Republicans.

Furthermore, 55 percent of Republicans support the use of force to preserve the "traditional American way of life," in comparison to 15 percent of Democrats. Also, when posed with the scenario of "patriotic Americans taking the law into their own hands," 47 percent of Republicans were in favor of such actions as opposed to just 9 percent of Democrats.

This poll was conducted between June 4-23 in conjunction with George Washington's School of Media and Public Affairs, the Department of Political Science and the Graduate School of Political Management. The poll included 1,753 registered voters, with a sample size of 2,500 voters from October 2020. The poll was also conducted by YouGov to be representative of a national sample.

A 2019 Pew Research study showed that many Americans are distrusting of Congress due to the idea that "influential people act unethically" in positions of power. Character traits such as competence, honesty and benevolence are at the core of these beliefs as well.

Also, the study showed that most Americans have more confidence in the way K-12 public school principals, military leaders and police officers handle their job responsibilities as opposed to members of Congress and tech industry leaders.