One-fifth of Americans believe Biden will be a successful president: poll

One-fifth of Americans believe that President Biden will be a successful president in the long run, according to new poll results released on Thursday. 

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that 20 percent of participants believe that Biden will be a successful president in the long run, compared to 43 percent who believe he will be an unsuccessful president and 37 percent of Americans who said it was too early to tell.

The poll, which was conducted between Jan. 10 and Jan. 17, indicated a drop in how Americans viewed the president last year around this time.

At this time last year, 29 percent of people thought Biden would be a successful president in the long run, compared to 26 percent who said he would be unsuccessful. The poll noted at the time that 44 percent felt it was too early to tell.

The poll found that the president’s approval rating was currently at 41 percent, a slight drop from his approval rating (44 percent) the last time Pew conducted its survey, which was in mid-September, 2021. 

Pew also noted that Biden’s approval rating fell among two groups that have been loyal to the Democratic Party  — religiously unaffiliated groups and Black Protestants. Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 47 percent approved of Biden’s job performance compared to 71 percent last April.

Separately, Pew noted that while 92 percent of Black Protestants approved of his job in March 2021, that support  slipped to 65 percent in their latest poll.

The polling comes as Biden juggles several domestic and international challenges, including tackling the coronavirus pandemic, tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Democratic gridlock in passing key priorities and  the lingering aftermath following the chaotic evacuation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan last August.

The Pew poll was conducted with a survey sample of 5,128 people. The margin of error was two percentage points.