Majority of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of coronavirus pandemic, poll says

Overall, 60 per cent of Americans approve of the president’s job performance since taking office in January

A majority of Americans approve of Joe Biden's performance since taking office, and this approval increased when it comes to his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, 60 per cent of Americans approve of the president's job performance since taking office in January, according to an AP-NORC poll released on Friday. When looking down partisan lines, 94 per cent of Democrats and 22 per cent of Republicans take a favorable view of his actions since he entered the White House.

One of the main priorities of the Biden administration has been the pandemic, as the president unveiled a Covid-19 national response plan during his first week of office. According to the poll, 70 per cent of Americans approve of Mr Biden's response to the pandemic, including 44 per cent of Republican voters.

Despite a positive response to his coronavirus plan, Mr Biden faces skepticism towards his handling of the economy. About 55 per cent of Americans approve of the president's response to the economy, but 63 per cent said it's in bad shape, according to the poll.

Republicans were less likely than Democrats to approve of his handling of the economy, as just 17 per cent said they supported his economic response.

Read more: Follow live updates from the Biden administration

Approval of the economy for Mr Biden was similar to what former President Trump had while he was in office. But one difference was economic response was always Mr Trump's strongest area among voters, while this was Mr Biden's weakest, according to the poll.

Some 35 per cent of Republicans and 41 per cent of Democrats describe the economy positively, a change from December when Mr Trump was in office. At the time, 67 per cent of Republicans and just 15 per cent of Democrats were positive about the economy, a wide partisan split.

This comes as Senate Democrats work to pass Mr Biden's $1.9tn American Rescue Plan to assist the country as it recovers from Covid-19. Included in the package, if passed, would be $1,400 stimulus checks for some Americans, $400 unemployment supplements, and money to assist schools reopening.

Lawmakers were working to get the bill passed ahead of the 14 March deadline, when jobless payments are set to expire.

Overall, 48 per cent of Americans said the country was heading in the right direction, which was an increase from the 37 per cent who said that back in December. Then, 43 per cent of Americans said they expected the country to be better overall by next year, while 34 per cent thought it would be worse and 23 per cent thought it would be about the same.

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,434 adults across the country and was conducted between 23 February and 1 March.