41% of US adults approve of Biden. Here’s what a new poll tells us about the president

WASHINGTON (AP) — An improved U.S. economy has done little so far to improve support for President Joe Biden, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Only 34% of U.S. adults approve of how Biden has handled the economy, a figure essentially unchanged from May. Biden’s overall approval rating is 41% — a reflection of today’s polarized politics with the 2024 presidential election on the horizon.

A summary of the survey’s findings and what they tell us about how the country is feeling about the Biden administration:

A majority of Democrats back the president’s work, but the figures are relatively low for a candidate who will need their votes in 2024. Some 72% of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance overall, while 60% back his handling of the economy.

Biden can boast of a series of bipartisan achievements. He signed into law investments in infrastructure and the production of computer chips, which hold the promise of making the U.S. economy more competitive. But Republicans are unimpressed, with only one in 10 approving of the president’s performance.

The poll shows that 40% of Americans approve of how Biden is handling foreign policy, including 69% of Democrats and 14% of Republicans. The survey was conducted June 22-26, as a short-lived insurrection was unfolding in Russia related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The survey found that 44% of U.S. adults approve of how Biden is handling health care. That includes 69% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans.

Neither of those figures is above 50%, but they’re both closer to the president’s overall approval rating.

At 80 years old, Biden is the already the oldest president in U.S. history. His age has led some voters to put more of a focus on Kamala Harris. The poll found that 37% of adults have a favorable opinion of her and 50% have an unfavorable opinion, with 12% saying they don’t know enough about her to say.

People are feeling a bit better about the U.S. economy, but feelings are still negative.

Seven in 10 say they think economic conditions are poor, a modest improvement from last month when 75% felt that way. The slight uptick could be due to Biden and GOP lawmakers reaching an agreement on the debt limit and removing the threat of an unprecedented government default. But no more than about a third have called the economy good since 2021.

Overall, Democrats remain more likely to call the economy good than Republicans, 47% to 13%.

The president’s polling numbers have not budged much in the past 18 months. That seems notable as events have made little difference so far in how the public feels. Gasoline prices are lower than a year ago. The U.S. economy has so far avoided a recession that many economists said would likely be the result of the Federal Reserve combatting high inflation with interest rate hikes. And Biden talks about the thousands of infrastructure projects underway in communities across the country. Yet public sentiment has largely been unchanged.

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The poll of 1,220 adults was conducted June 22-26 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.