The latest research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies finds that 44% of Americans disapprove and 39% approve of President Joe Biden’s overall job performance as President. His net approval rating, at -5%, is two points lower than in our polling on 18 December, when 44% disapproved and 41% approved of Biden’s performance.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ net approval rating has also worsened compared to 18 December, decreasing four points to -8% this week. In our latest poll, 43% disapprove (up 2%) and 35% approve (down 2%) of Kamala Harris’ performance as Vice President, with a further 19% neither approving nor disapproving (up 1%).
For the first time since we began our US tracker poll in September 2021, the environment is the policy area in which the Joe Biden Administration elicits the highest net approval rating. But at +3%, net approval regarding the Administration’s performance on the environment has decreased by two points since 18 December.
The Administration also receives a marginally positive net approval rating of +1% on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic (down 5%), and a neutral net approval rating of ±0 on education (no change).
In all other policy areas, Americans give the current Administration negative net approval ratings, ranging from -4% on housing (no change) to -9% on the economy (down 4%) and -14% on immigration (up 4%).
In line with negative ratings in these policy areas, pluralities of respondents believe Joe Biden has handled the economy (46%), immigration (44%), national security and defense (41%), and foreign policy (41%) worse than Donald Trump. By contrast, a plurality of 40% finds Biden has handled the environment better than his predecessor, while Americans are divided on whether Biden has managed the pandemic worse (40%) or better (39%) than Trump.
Looking ahead to the 2022 Midterm Election, the economy is 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 this November, 56% select the economy, 38% select the coronavirus pandemic, 34% select healthcare, and 22% select Government spending as determinative election issues.
The economy is the most-selected option for both 2020 Joe Biden (51%) and Donald Trump (66%) voters. Other important election issues for Biden voters include the pandemic (50%) and healthcare (44%), while Trump voters are more likely to select immigration (37%) and Government spending (33%).
With regard to the 2024 Presidential Election, Joe Biden is back to leading over Donald Trump in our latest hypothetical voting intention, after our previous three polls found Trump ahead. After weighting by likelihood to vote, 43% of respondents say they would vote for Joe Biden (up 5%), and 41% say they would vote for Donald Trump (down 3%) if they were the candidates in 2024. A further 11% say they don’t know how they would vote (down 1%).
Large majorities of 2020 Donald Trump voters (89%, up 2%) and Joe Biden voters (85%, up 10%) maintain that they would again vote for those respective candidates.
An alternative 2024 Kamala Harris campaign produces a closer result. If Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were the 2024 nominees, 41% of Americans say they would vote for Trump, and 41% say they would vote for Harris. In this scenario, 11% also say they don’t know how they would vote.
