A third of Americans currently say they approve of Joe Biden’s job performance as president, while nearly two-thirds (64%) say they disapprove. This is little changed over the last year.
Around six-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (61%) say they approve of Biden’s job performance, compared with 7% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
Biden’s job approval among Democrats has declined 12 percentage points since October 2022 (from 73% to 61%). Over this period, Biden’s ratings among Republicans have remained very low (6% then, 7% today).
Biden’s approval among demographic groups
Biden’s job rating is relatively low among most major demographic groups.
Black adults give Biden higher ratings than Hispanic or White adults do. Still, only about half of Black adults (52%) say they approve of his job performance, while 43% disapprove.
Modest age differences in Biden’s ratings
Biden’s job ratings are in the low- to mid-30% range across age groups. Disapproval of Biden is modestly higher among adults ages 18 to 49 (66%) than those 50 and older (62%).
Sizable educational differences
Majorities of adults with a four-year college degree (62%), some college experience (68%) or a high school diploma or less education (67%) say they disapprove of Biden’s job performance, while adults with a postgraduate degree are more evenly divided (48% approve, 50% disapprove).
Biden is viewed more positively by liberal Democrats than by conservative and moderate Democrats.
Liberal Democrats are more likely than conservative and moderate Democrats to say they approve of Biden (66% vs. 57%), as well as to say they strongly approve (37% vs. 29%). Overwhelming majorities of Republicans disapprove of Biden’s job as president, including nearly eight-in-ten (77%) who strongly disapprove. Conservative Republicans are much more likely than moderate and liberal Republicans to strongly disapprove of Biden (84% vs. 64%).
Please visit detailed tables for current views of Biden’s approval rating among other subgroups.
Public confidence in Biden to handle key issues remains low
Large majorities of Americans express little or no confidence in Biden’s ability to handle a number of issues, including economic and immigration policy. Confidence in Biden is particularly low in his ability to bring the country closer together.
Only about a quarter of Americans (24%) are very or somewhat confident Biden can bring the country closer together; 75% are not too or not at all confident.
His ratings are better – though largely negative – in other areas. Comparable shares are confident Biden can make good decisions on economic policy (36%), work effectively with Congress (35%) and handle an international crisis (35%). Slightly fewer are confident he can make wise decisions on immigration policy (32%).
On each issue, roughly two-thirds of Americans say they are not too confident or not at all confident in Biden.
How public confidence in Biden’s handling of issues has changed over time
As with Joe Biden’s job approval, public confidence in his ability to handle several key issues has declined since the early months of his presidency.
The share of Americans saying they are very or somewhat confident in him to make good decisions on economic policy has fallen 20 percentage points since March 2021 (from 56% to 36%).
There have been similar declines in views of Biden’s handling of immigration (21 points) and his ability to bring the country together (24 points).
Confidence in Biden to handle an international crisis has slipped 8 points since last year, from 43% to 35%. The share expressing confidence in Biden to work effectively with Congress (35%) is largely unchanged from last year. (These questions were not asked in 2021.)
Majorities of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are confident in Biden’s ability to handle four of the five dimensions asked on the survey. The exception is bringing the country closer together: 42% of Democrats say they are very or somewhat confident in Biden can do this, while 58% say they are not too or not at all confident he can.
Republicans and Republican leaners express little or no confidence in Biden across all five items. Republicans’ confidence in Biden’s ability to handle key issues has been low since early in his presidency.
There have been larger declines in the shares of Democrats expressing confidence in him on key issues. This is particularly the case when it comes to bringing the country together: 74% said they were very or somewhat confident in his ability to do this in March 2021. That share fell to 44% in July 2022, and is 42% in the current survey.
