In fact, Biden’s net approval rating is lower than that of any incoming president since the dawn of modern polling, except for his predecessor, Donald Trump. It’s just another clear sign that we’ve entered a new era of partisanship: Media fragmentation and the hard-line politics it has helped foster may make it impossible for any leader to become a true consensus figure.
But it also bears noting that Biden’s approval rating is basically a reverse image of Trump’s. In addition to being loathed by Republicans and embraced by Democrats, he’s firmly in positive territory among independents — who had consistently disapproved of Trump’s performance.
A Monmouth University poll out last week found that 54 percent of Americans gave Biden’s performance positive marks, including nine in 10 Democrats and a plurality of independents, who approved by a 17-percentage-point margin (22 percent hadn’t yet formed an opinion). But among Republicans, his numbers were upside down. Just 15 percent approved, and 70 percent disapproved.
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