Forty-two percent (42%) of voters nationwide now approve of the way President Biden is performing his job. The latest Scott Rasmussen survey finds that 52% disapprove and 5% are not sure.
Perceptions of the president have remained quite stable. Over ten surveys conducted in November and December, eight found the president’s approval within two points of 43%. One was a point above that range and one a point below.
That suggests a slight decline from September and October when the president’s approval averaged 45%.
The current totals include 18% of voters who Strongly Approve of the president’s performance while 37% Strongly Disapprove.
This survey was conducted prior to Senator Joe Manchin’s announcement that he would not support the Build Back Better plan. It is not clear that Manchin’s decision will have any significant impact on President Biden’s approval.
Last month we noted that passage of that plan would have little impact. That was primarily because few voters were paying attention. The lack of voter awareness may have been a blessing for the president since his proposal included extraordinarily unpopular items. Additionally, most voters share Manchin’s concern and believe the president’s plan would have made inflation worse.
Republicans have called Biden’s plan as a Big Government Socialism Bill. Fifty-three percent (53%) now say it’s accurate to describe the president’s overall agenda as big government socialism.
Another challenge for the president is growing pessimism about the pandemic. Just 29% believe the worst is behind us. That’s a single point above the lowest level recorded since vaccines became available. Eleven percent (11%) now believe it will never end.
Voters are clearly frustrated with both the pandemic itself and the government response to it. Forty-eight percent (48%) think scientists would falsify their data to support their personal views of what should be done. Looking back, 58% of voters believe that shutting down businesses and locking down society did more harm than good.
On another front, 32% think it’s Very Likely that democracy in America will end in the next generation or so. That total includes 11% who believe it has already ended. Republicans are significantly more worried about democracy ending than Democrats. A plurality of voters sees Democrats as a bigger threat to democracy than Republicans.
Finally, most voters believe drug cartels have control over the southern border. To challenge the cartels, 60% favor sending military forces and equipment to secure the border.
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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Question:
Do you approve or disapprove of the way President Biden is performing his job?
18% Strongly approve
24% Somewhat approve
15% Somewhat disapprove
37% Strongly disapprove
5% Not sure
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on December 14-15, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
