New poll shows Biden leaving office with approval ratings still buried deep in negative territory

A new national poll indicates that President Biden’s approval ratings remain well underwater as the nation’s 46th president is only days from leaving office.

Just 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden’s doing in the White House, according to the latest CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with 64% saying they disapprove. The approval rating matches the president’s previous low mark in the cable news network’s polling during Biden’s single term in office.

The poll was released on Wednesday, just hours before the president delivers his prime-time farewell address to the nation, with just days left before Biden’s term ends and he is succeeded by President-elect Trump in the White House.

Biden’s approval rating stands at 43% – slightly higher but still in negative territory – in national polls by USA Today/Suffolk University and Marist College which, along with the CNN survey, were conducted earlier this month. 

The trio of polls also indicates that many Americans view Biden’s presidency as a failure.

Sixty-one percent of those questioned in the CNN survey said they see Biden’s presidency overall as a failure, with 38% viewing it as a success. 

According to the USA Today/Suffolk University survey, which was released on Tuesday, 44% of registered voters said history will assess Biden as a failed president, with 27% saying he will be judged as a fair president. Twenty-one percent of those questioned said history will view Biden as a good president, with only 5% saying he will be seen as a great president.

Just over a third of adults nationwide questioned in the Marist poll, which was released on Wednesday, said Biden will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in American history, with 19% saying he will be considered a below-average president.

Twenty-eight percent of participants offered that Biden’s legacy will be considered average, with 19% saying he would be regarded as above average or one of the best presidents in the nation’s history.

In his Oval Office speech, Biden will likely aim to cement his legacy as a president who pushed to stabilize politics at home while bolstering America’s leadership abroad, and as a leader who steered the nation out of the COVID-19 pandemic and made historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy while lowering prescription drug prices.

Biden, in a letter to Americans released early Wednesday morning, emphasized that when he took office four years ago ‘we were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.’

And he touted that ‘today, we have the strongest economy in the world and have created a record 16.6 million new jobs. Wages are up. Inflation continues to come down. The racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years.’

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. However, the president’s numbers started sagging in August 2021 in the wake of Biden’s much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and following a surge in COVID-19 cases that summer that was mainly among unvaccinated people.

The plunge in the president’s approval rating was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021 and remains to date a major pocketbook concern with Americans – and the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border.

Biden’s approval ratings slipped underwater in the autumn of 2021 and never reemerged into positive territory.

The president’s single term in the White House ends Monday, Jan. 20, as Trump is inaugurated as Biden’s successor.

However, according to the USA Today/Suffolk University poll, 44% also said that Trump will be seen by history as a failed president. 

One in five said Trump would be viewed as a great president, with 19% saying good and 27% saying he would be judged a fair president.

Trump ended his first term in office with approval ratings in negative territory, including 47% approval in Fox News polling from four years ago.

In Marist polling four years ago, as Trump finished his first term, 47% thought he would be remembered as one of the nation’s worst presidents.

As Trump gets ready to once again assume the presidency, the Marist poll indicates opinions of him remain low, with 44% of Americans viewing him favorably and 49% holding an unfavorable opinion of the incoming president.

However, opinions about Trump’s first term have risen in numerous polls conducted since his convincing victory in November’s presidential election over Vice President Kamala Harris. The vice president succeeded Biden in July as the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer after the president dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

The poll also indicates that Americans have high expectations for Trump when it comes to the economy.

‘While many Americans feel the current economy is not working well for them, residents nationally have grown more optimistic about the future of their own finances,’ the poll’s release highlighted.

The survey also indicated Americans are divided about Trump’s proposed mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

According to the poll, more than six in 10 disapprove of Trump’s pledge to pardon his supporters who were convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

The Marist poll was conducted Jan. 7-9, with 1,387 adults nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

The CNN poll was conducted Jan. 9-12, with 1,205 adults nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.