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Biden polls 63 per cent in first presidential approval rating

A majority also approved of the new president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic

Louise Hall
Tuesday 26 January 2021 07:32 EST
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Joe Biden’s first presidential job approval rating has come in at 63 per cent among registered voters, according to a newly released Hill-HarrisX poll.

Only 37 per cent of respondents in the survey, which was carried out between 21 January to 22 January said that they disapproved of Mr Biden’s job in the White House so far.

An overwhelming 94 per cent of Democrats approved of the newly inaugurated president during his first few days in office, along with 62 per cent of independents.

However, somewhat unsurprisingly, seventy percent of Republican voters disapprove of Mr Biden's performance so far as the 46th president.

The new president sees his strongest support on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which sits at 69 per cent, and handling the government, at 65 per cent.

The survey also revealed Mr Biden received a 61 per cent support on the issues of the economy, stimulating jobs, and fighting terrorism.

The White House hit the ground running with a flurry of at least 17 executive orders and a range of new domestic and international policies during Mr Biden’s first 24 hours as president.

The wave of executive orders and immediate actions passed included a range of issues such as climate change, coronavirus, and immigration.

In the wake of the action, fifty-seven percent of voters said they approve of Mr Biden's handling of immigration, and 60 percent say the same concerning foreign affairs, according to the survey.

In terms of immigration, the new president ended the previous administration’s travel restrictions on several Muslim majority countries and halted the construction of new border security installations along the US-Mexico border among other actions.

A separate Hill-HarrisX poll also found majorities of voters are confident in Mr Biden's ability to achieve key agenda items, particularly those concerning the pandemic.

To combat the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Biden announced new executive orders to expand Covid-19 testing, proposed a new Covid-19 national strategy, and created a new role to assist with national vaccine distribution efforts.

The president has since appeared to boost his goal for coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, suggesting the nation could soon be injecting 1.5 million shots on an average per day.

“I think we may be able to get that to... 1.5 million a day, rather than 1 million a day,” Mr Biden said, “but we have to meet that goal of a million a day.”

Over the weekend Mr Biden began talks with Congress over a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that will help provide relief to those most impacted by the pandemic.

The most recent poll was conducted online among 941 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.19 percentage points.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

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