The latest research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies finds that 45% of Americans approve and 34% disapprove of President Joe Biden’s overall job performance as President. His net approval rating, at +11%, is one point higher than our polling on 4-5 September, when 46% approved and 36% disapproved of Biden’s performance.
Approval of President Biden’s performance continues to be strongly related to how respondents voted in the 2020 Presidential Election, with 78% (down 2%) of Joe Biden voters approving and 67% (down 8%) of Donald Trump voters disapproving.
Vice President Kamala Harris enjoys a relatively lower but still positive net approval rating of +3%, a four-point decrease from two weeks ago. In our latest poll, 39% (down 2%) approve and 36% (up 2%) disapprove of Kamala Harris’ performance as Vice President, with a further 19% neither approving nor disapproving. Again, 2020 Presidential Election vote is a decisive factor: 69% (no change) of Biden voters—compared to 13% (down 2%) of Trump voters—approve of Harris, while 65% (down 6%) of the latter demographic disapprove.
With respect to the overall Joe Biden Administration, Americans give the Administration a net competency rating of +2%, a two-point increase from our polling two weeks ago. In total, 37% (no change) think the current Biden Administration is competent, 35% (down 2%) think it is incompetent, and 13% (no change) think it is neither competent nor incompetent.
On matters of policy, Americans remain by far the most satisfied with the Joe Biden Administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. With 49% approving and 28% disapproving of the Administration’s performance on the pandemic, respondents give a net approval rating of +21% (up 3%) in this regard. The Administration also receives positive net approval ratings of +8% (down 3%) on the environment and +6% (down 4%) on the economy.
In other policy areas, Americans are more divided in their assessments of the Administration’s performance, resulting in just slightly positive net approval ratings of +2% (down 1%) on housing and +1% (no change) on crime/policing. Further, respondents give a neutral net approval rating of 0% on the Administration’s policies to address unemployment, a figure which has decreased by six points since our polling two weeks ago.
In the realm of foreign policy, responses are also split: the Administration’s relations with Russia elicit a +2% (up 1%) net approval rating, while its relations with China receive a rating of -2% (no change). When it comes to the Biden Administration’s defence policies, respondents give a net approval rating of -1% (down 1%).
Immigration continues to be the policy area that sees the greatest degree of disapproval among the American public. 32% approve and 38% disapprove of the Joe Biden Administration’s performance on immigration, resulting in a net approval rating of -6% (down 2%).
Looking ahead to the 2024 Presidential Election, healthcare remains the top issue that Americans say will determine how they will vote in the election. When asked to select up to three issues that are most likely to determine how they vote in 2024, 40% select healthcare, 34% select unemployment and wages, 28% select the environment, and 28% select immigration as determinative election issues.
Healthcare (55%) is also the most-selected option for 2020 Joe Biden voters in particular, followed by the environment (40%) and unemployment and wages (31%). Meanwhile, for 2020 Donald Trump voters, the most popular 2024 election issues are immigration (47%), unemployment and wages (41%), and Government spending (28%). Indeed, on the latter issue, 65% of Trump voters think the Government is spending too much, compared to 33% of Biden voters.
In our hypothetical voting intention polling for the 2024 Presidential Election, 42% (down 3%) say they will vote for Joe Biden and 40% (down 2%) say they will vote for Donald Trump if they are the candidates in 2024, after weighting by likelihood to vote. The proportion of respondents who say they don’t know how they would vote in this scenario has increased slightly in the past two weeks, from 10% to 15%.
Large majorities of 2020 Donald Trump voters (81%, down 8%) and Joe Biden voters (84%, down 3%) maintain that they would again vote for those respective candidates.
