Half of Americans approve of Democratic congressional leaders’ performance compared to only about a third who said the same of their GOP counterparts, according to a new Pew Research Poll out Friday.
The poll found that 50 percent of respondents overall approved of Democratic leaders in Congress and 47 percent disapproved.
Sixty-four percent of respondents disapproved of Republican congressional leaders, while 32 percent approved.
The support for Democratic leaders in Congress has jumped 9 points since the spring of 2019 in a time of divided government, when Democrats controlled the House and Republicans still held the Senate.
Pew attributed the increase in approval to higher approval ratings among Democratic voters.
Democrats were also found to be more supportive of their party’s congressional leaders compared to Republicans.
The poll found 84 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents approved of their party’s leaders in Congress, while only 55 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents approved of their party’s leaders.
By contrast, 69 percent of Democrats approved of their party’s leaders in 2019.
Aside from the support for Democratic leaders in Congress, the poll found that a majority of Americans approve of President Biden’s job performance.
A total of 59 percent of respondents approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, while 39 percent disapproved.
The number marks an increase of 5 points since March, when 54 percent said they approved of Biden’s job performance.
Biden has spent his first few months in office focusing on legislative priorities that are broadly popular with the public, including pandemic relief and infrastructure.
The poll showed that the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief measure he signed into law in March, for example, was approved by 67 percent of respondents.
Other polls have indicated that the provision authorizing another round of stimulus checks, this time of up to $1,400 for individuals, proved to be particularly popular.
Pew’s poll also found that 72 percent believe the Biden administration has done an excellent or good job in handling the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The views differed by party, but overall a majority approved: 88 percent of Democrats approve, compared to 55 percent of Republicans.
The poll was conducted April 5 to 11, with a 2.1 percentage point margin of error.