The latest research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies finds that 45% of Americans approve and 37% disapprove of President Joe Biden’s overall job performance as President. His net approval rating, at +8%, is three points lower than our polling on 19-20 September, when 45% approved and 34% 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% of Joe Biden voters approving (no change) and 72% of Donald Trump voters disapproving (up 5%).
Vice President Kamala Harris enjoys a relatively lower, slightly positive net approval rating of +1%, a two-point decrease from two weeks ago. In our latest poll, 39% approve (no change) and 38% disapprove (up 2%) of Kamala Harris’ performance as Vice President, with a further 15% neither approving nor disapproving (down 4%). Again, 2020 Presidential Election vote is a decisive factor: 71% of Biden voters approve of Harris (up 2%), while 73% of Trump voters disapprove (up 8%).
With respect to the overall Joe Biden Administration, Americans give the Administration a net competency rating of -4%, a six-point decrease from our polling two weeks ago. In total, 36% think the current Biden Administration is competent (down 1%), 40% think it is incompetent (up 5%), and 12% think it is neither competent nor incompetent (down 1%).
On matters of policy, Americans remain by far the most satisfied with the Joe Biden Administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. With 46% approving and 32% disapproving of the Administration’s performance on the pandemic, respondents give a net approval rating of +14% in this regard—though this figure has decreased by seven points in the past two weeks. In particular, 46% support and 29% oppose the Administration’s decision to mandate employers with more than 100 employers to require their employees to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing, a decision that finds much greater support among Biden voters (69%) than Trump voters (27%).
Compared to two weeks ago, respondents in our latest poll also give the Administration relatively lower net approval ratings of -3% on the economy (down 9%) and -16% on immigration (down 10%).
In fact, with net approval ratings of +4% on the environment (down 4%), -3% on crime (down 4%), -6% on relations with Russia (down 8%), and -11% on relations with China (down 9%), Americans display increased dissatisfaction with the Government’s performance in a variety of areas.
In other policy areas, assessments have remained relatively more stable: the Administration elicits net approval ratings of -1% on unemployment (down 1%), 0% on housing (down 2%), and -4% on defence (down 3%).
Looking ahead to the 2024 Presidential Election, unemployment and wages is now 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, 39% select unemployment and wages, 38% select healthcare, 29% select immigration, 26% select Government spending, and 25% select the environment as determinative election issues.
Healthcare (48%) is the most-selected option for 2020 Joe Biden voters, followed by unemployment and wages (41%) and the environment (36%). Meanwhile, for 2020 Donald Trump voters, the most popular 2024 election issues are immigration (48%), unemployment and wages (38%), and Government spending (37%). Indeed, on the latter issue, 70% of Trump voters think the Government is spending too much, compared to 37% of Biden voters.
In our hypothetical voting intention polling for the 2024 Presidential Election, 43% say they will vote for Joe Biden (up 1%) and 41% say they will vote for Donald Trump (up 1%) if they are the candidates in 2024, after weighting by likelihood to vote. A further 13% say they don’t know how they would vote (down 2%).
Large majorities of 2020 Donald Trump voters (88%, up 7%) and Joe Biden voters (85%, up 1%) maintain that they would again vote for those respective candidates.
