Biden's public approval ticks up to 42%, highest since June: Reuters/Ipsos
poll
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[March 08, 2023]
By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's public approval rating
edged up to 42%, its highest level since June, as inflation has eased in
the United States and job growth has stayed strong, a new Reuters/Ipsos
poll showed.
Biden's popularity had suffered since the first days of his presidency
in early 2021, declining almost steadily until the May-July period of
last year, when it touched as low as 36%.
Since then, his approval level has risen gradually, with this week's 42%
job approval up from 41% recorded a month earlier. The Reuters/Ipsos
poll has a margin of error of three percentage points either way.
Biden's approval also remains quite low by historic standards. In past
decades, presidents only occasionally went through extended periods with
approval as low as that of Biden, although Donald Trump spent much of
his 2017-2021 presidency with similar levels of approval and at points
sank even lower, hitting 33% in December 2017.
Biden, 80, is expected to launch another run for the White House in the
coming weeks. The small upswing in his popularity comes as the pace of
consumer price increases has slowed to 6.4% in the 12 months through
January, from 9.1% in June.
He is expected to unveil a budget proposal this week that could
highlight goals for a second term, which are expected to include efforts
to protect and possibly expand the social safety net while also reducing
the federal deficit by taxing wealthy Americans more.
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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with
reporters as he returns from a weekend at Camp David to the White
House in Washington, U.S. February 6, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Biden's administration is currently defending in court an program to
forgive some student loans made by the federal government, and the
Reuters/Ipsos poll showed sharp partisan divisions on the issue,
much like they have on Biden's own performance.
Eighty-one percent of Democrats support the federal government's
loan forgiveness program, compared to 29% of Republicans. Similarly,
81% of Democratic respondents said they approve of Biden's
performance, though only 10% of Republicans said the same.
Eighty-four percent of Republican respondents said they supported
making it harder for migrants on the U.S. southern border to seek
asylum in the United States, compared to just 35% of Democrats.
Partisan divisions in the poll were less pronounced on whether
federal courts should overturn government approval of a medication
used for miscarriage and abortion care. On that question, 70% of
respondents - including 82% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans -
said they opposed a court intervention banning the medication,
mifepristone, nationwide.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted throughout the United States,
gathered responses from 1,023 adults, using a nationally
representative sample.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)
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