Not a sweet goodbye: Biden is less popular leaving office than Trump and Obama were

The outgoing president’s approval ratings are comparable to Richard Nixon, who resigned amid the Watergate scandal

Joe Biden’s popularity as he ends his term has hit a new low. (Getty Images)

As Joe Biden prepares to leave office, Americans have a dimmer view of his presidency than they did at the end of Donald Trump's first term or Barack Obama's second, a new poll finds.

Around one-quarter of U.S. adults said Biden was a "good" or "great" president, with less than 1 in 10 saying he was "great," according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

It's a stark illustration of how tarnished Biden's legacy has become, with many members of his own party seeing his Democratic presidency as merely mediocre. About one-third described Trump as "good" or "great" on the eve of the Republican's departure from the White House in 2021, according to AP-NORC polling, including about 2 in 10 who said he was "great" — even after he helped sparked a deadly insurrection that saw a mob of his supporters overrun the U.S. Capitol. Americans were similarly likely to describe both Biden and Trump as "poor" or "terrible" — about half said this characterized each president's time in office — but about 3 in 10 said Biden was "average," while less than 2 in 10 said this about Trump.

Biden's standing is also much lower than the last outgoing Democratic president, Obama, who left office with about half of Americans describing his tenure as "good" or "great," according to another AP-NORC poll.

Joe Biden’s standing with the American people is similar to that of Richard Nixon, who resigned during the Watergate scandal. (AP)

Those findings are consistent with data released this week by Gallup, which found Biden's standing similar to that of President Richard Nixon after the Republican resigned during the Watergate scandal. The Gallup analysis found that other presidents who left with poor ratings — including Trump, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Jimmy Carter — saw views of their presidencies grow warmer with time. But for now, few seem impressed with Biden's time in office, including a sizable chunk of Democrats.

"I'm not going to sound like 'Star Wars,' that he went over to the dark side and everything that might be implied there," John Cressey, a 79-year-old Democrat who lives in the Los Angeles area and does background work for films and movies, said of Biden. "But I think he just lost the pulse of the nation and that's why Trump won."

Among supporters of Biden's party, only about 1 in 10 described his presidency as "great," while about 4 in 10 called it "good," and a similar share described it as "average."

Cressey said he saw the 82-year-old Biden declining physically and believes the president was increasingly controlled by aides. He says Biden let the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border deteriorate into "a mess." And Cressey summed up his chagrin with Biden's handling of the economy by saying, "Go buy a carton of eggs."

Disappointment especially high among Black and Hispanic Americans

Americans now have a dimmer view of Joe Biden’s sole term than they did at the end of Donald Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second, a new poll suggests. (AFP/Getty)

Things weren't always so bad for Biden. About 6 in 10 Americans approved of the way he handled the presidency as he took office, according to AP-NORC polling, but by early 2022, that had fallen to about 4 in 10, where views largely stayed for the remainder of his term.

In the new poll, disappointment was especially palpable among Black and Hispanic Americans, who have traditionally leaned Democratic but shifted in larger numbers toward Trump in 2024.

The contrast with Obama was especially striking among Black Americans. About 6 in 10 said Obama, the nation's only Black president, had kept his promises at the end of his term, compared with around 3 in 10 who said the same for Biden. Similarly, about 7 in 10 Black Americans said they and their family were better off at the end of Obama's presidency while only about a third said that about Biden.

"I feel as though the economy hasn't progressed in a positive way since he's been in office," said Evonte Terrell, 30, a sales manager at a telecommunications company from Detroit who described himself as a "waning Democrat."

Terrell, who is Black, said the party has become too focused on things like climate change and war while de-emphasizing rebuilding communities and helping the poor. He also bristled at Biden's pardoning of his son Hunter, saying that, "as a father, I would do the same" but "not everyone is going to have that capability."

Younger people were particularly likely to have a negative view of Biden's presidency. Only about 1 in 10 Americans under age 30 say he was a "good" or "great" president, compared with about 4 in 10 ages 60 or older. Roughly 6 in 10 Americans ages 18 to 29 say Biden was a "poor" or "terrible" president.

Terrell, facing student loan payments, also pointed to Biden's efforts to ease educational debt that were struck down by the Supreme Court. He said that amounted to years of "just deferring" when "otherwise I could have been paying it off this entire time."

A perception of failed promises

The Biden administration helped oversee the passage of more large-scale legislation than did Trump or Obama — including on public works, microchip production and health care and promoting green jobs. The president also signed the first major gun safety package in decades.

Still, only about 2 in 10 Americans said the president made good on his campaign trail pledges. About 4 in 10 said he tried but failed to keep his promises, and a similar share said he has not kept his promises.

Mark Jeanmougin, 47, who is from Cincinnati and works in cybersecurity, voted for Trump in 2016 but backed Biden in 2020 and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

He sees Biden as a good president who set the United States up for success on issues like climate change while delivering badly needed infrastructure funding. But, he said, Biden "definitely ran into some activist judges who were saying no to some of his policies."

Jeanmougin said Biden helped improve the post-COVID-19 economy and rising inflation was an expected consequence.

"A hard landing, lots of unemployment, or a soft landing with inflation," he said. "We knew that was what was going to happen. So the idea that so many of my fellow citizens were unaware or didn't know is really hard."

In all, about half of Democrats said Biden tried and failed to keep his campaign promises, while about 4 in 10 said he succeeded.

Few believe they are better off

Joe Biden was seen as having a negative impact on Russia’s war with Ukraine - despite his administration pumping billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv. (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

For the most part, Americans don't think Biden is leaving the country in a better position than when he took office four years ago — with a few exceptions.

On the issues of creating jobs and prescription drug costs, Americans were about as likely to say Biden had a positive impact as they were to say he'd had a negative impact. A similar share said he had no impact.

But many thought he'd done more harm than good in other key areas. At least half of Americans said Biden had a negative impact on the cost of living, immigration and the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians — compared with about 2 in 10 who said he had a positive impact in each of these arenas.

He was also perceived as having more of a negative impact than a positive one on Russia's war with Ukraine, despite his administration pushing for billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv. The negative views toward Biden regarding Israel's war against Hamas were particularly pronounced among younger voters, with slightly less than 1 in 10 Americans under age 30 saying he had a positive impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About 4 in 10 Americans said they and their families are somewhat or much worse off than they were when Biden became president, while about one-quarter said they are much or somewhat better off.

Only about one-quarter said they and their families were worse off at the end of either Trump's or Obama's presidency.