March 4, 2024
Most adults have negative opinions about President Biden’s mental health, job performance, and handling of the economy. Few people think they or his family are better off than they were before Biden took office in 2021, and most think the national economy and the country as a whole are in worse shape. There is.
A majority of adults are concerned about the mental capacity of Biden and Donald Trump to effectively serve as president. Only 40% of Democrats are very or extremely confident in Biden’s mental health. By contrast, 59% of Republicans trust Trump. Independents have less confidence in both candidates, but they are more likely than Biden to have confidence in Trump’s mental abilities (20% vs. 6%).
More people say that their families, their country, and their economy have gotten worse during President Biden’s tenure than say they have gotten better. While most Democrats feel things have gotten better or at least stayed the same, about 1 in 4 feel the country as a whole and the economy are worse off than they were before Biden took office.
People without a college degree are more pessimistic. For example, 44% of college graduates say the country has gotten worse under the Biden administration, compared to 61% of college graduates.
Only 30% say the economy is good and 69% say the economy is bad. Among Democrats, 49% said it was “terrible.” Adults are more confident about their personal finances – 54% say their finances are in good shape. Two-thirds of Democrats (64%) and half of Republicans (47%) rate their personal finances as good.
Biden’s approval ratings are negative for most aspects of his job performance. Although a majority of Democrats approve of Biden’s performance on most issues, 54% disapprove of his handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Overall, the public has an overwhelming lack of confidence in Biden’s ability to achieve important policy goals as president. About a quarter of Americans are very confident that Biden can effectively handle the crisis, another quarter are somewhat confident, and half have little confidence.
About four in 10 adults have a favorable opinion of Biden, Kamala Harris, and Trump.
Four in five adults (77%) think the country is heading in the wrong direction, and one in five think it’s heading in the right direction. 62% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
This national poll was conducted February 22-26, 2024 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, a probability-based panel from the University of Chicago NORC. Online and telephone interviews were conducted with 1,102 adults using landline and mobile phones. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.1 percentage points.