According to the poll, 62% of Americans believe that Biden has “accomplished not much” or “little or no”. nothing during his presidency,” and 36% say he did “a lot” or “a good amount. On many of Biden’s flagship initiatives — from improving the nation’s infrastructure to creating affordable electric vehicles to creating jobs — most Americans say they don’t believe he’s made any strides. progress according to survey.
The dynamic is sure to raise the stakes for Biden’s primetime speech on Tuesday. The president is expected to use the platform to tout his accomplishments and remind voters that many of the laws he signed in the first half of his term have only just been implemented.
That was his message ahead of the midterm elections, when his party’s better-than-expected performance convinced many of his aides that despite his low approval ratings, Americans broadly support his agenda. Biden said one of his top goals for the year is to make sure Americans feel the impact of the laws he signed in his first two years in office, including a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, climate change legislation, a $52 billion energy bill. encouraging domestic production and capping the price of insulin for the elderly.
“It’s one thing to do everything – now we have to check every day that we’re there. No joke,” Biden said in a Jan. 26 speech on the economy. so people can see what we deliver and give it directly to them.”
In general, the results of the survey do not reassure either side. In the coming fight over the debt ceiling, most Americans are closer to Biden than the GOP, and many dismiss Republican plans to explore the “militarization” of government as political.
Americans don’t trust Biden or House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to make the right decisions for the country’s future. Fewer than 2 in 10 Americans trust the speaker “a lot” or “a fair amount”; 71% are “slightly” or not at all sure. An equally high 72% distrust congressional Republicans, while 68% say the same about Biden and 70% say the same about congressional Democrats.
But Biden is the man who will speak to the American people on Tuesday. And most of them say that he has not yet made significant progress on key issues.
77% of Democrats say Biden is doing well, while among political independents that number drops to 32%. Just seven percent of Republicans say he has accomplished a lot, while 93 percent say he has done little, little, or nothing.
Doubts about Biden’s achievements are even greater of former President Barack Obama in 2010 and 2012. When Obama sought re-election, 52% of adults said he had accomplished “little” or “little or nothing” in both terms. In a potentially worrying sign for the White House, Biden’s numbers are the same as former President Donald Trump’s negative ratings, who lost re-election.
Biden said the Obama administration did not do enough to declare all of its legislative victories since the Great Recession, and he vowed not to repeat that mistake.
The president recently said he created an “implementation cabinet” of high-ranking officials whose “job is to make sure people know what we’ve done because they don’t do anything.”
But many laws passed in 2022 won’t be fully implemented for months or years, and the challenges facing consumers today — like lingering inflation and broader economic uncertainty — could complicate efforts to take credit for the White House’s achievements.
According to the poll, less than a third of Americans (32%) believe Biden has made progress on improving roads and bridges in their community, while 60% say he has not. Biden has attended events launching projects funded by the infrastructure bill, such as a $1.6 billion bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky and tunnel projects in Baltimore and New York.
Three in 10 Americans say Biden has made progress on reducing prescription drug costs, while 47% say he hasn’t and 23% aren’t sure. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes a number of provisions aimed at lowering drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, although the $35 cap on monthly insulin costs did not take effect last month, and the impact of other changes will not be felt for years. 42% of those 65 and older say Biden has reduced drug costs.
Asked whether Biden has made progress on improving the availability of electric vehicles, 26% of Americans say he has, 56% say he has not, and 18% have no opinion. Expanded tax credits authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act became available to car buyers in January.
Perhaps most troubling for the White House, nearly a third of adults say Biden has made progress in creating good jobs in their communities, compared to 60% who say he has not. Biden has overseen the fastest rate of job growth in US history, with unemployment at its lowest level in decades.
On Friday, the president released new data showing the labor market added 517,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest level since May 1969. The state of the Union and our economy is strong.” Biden said after the numbers were released.
However, a growing number of Americans will see their financial situation deteriorate under Biden’s watch. About four in 10 Americans (41%) say they are not better off financially since Biden became president, up from 35% a year ago and the highest percentage reporting that sentiment in any state. president in post-ABC polls since measurement began. In 1986.
Republicans have embraced this sense of economic distress, hitting Biden with high prices, pointing to high-profile layoffs in the tech sector and blaming Biden’s discount spending for high prices.
That sparked a battle to raise the federal debt ceiling, which sets a legal maximum for how much the U.S. government can borrow. The United States is already at $31.4 trillion, and a series of Treasury Department “emergency measures” to avoid default could end in June.
“How worried is the government that defaulting on its debts will seriously hurt the economy?” About 8 in 10 Americans: they “very” or “more precisely” related. It was broadly shared across parties, with a majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents “very concerned” about the impact of a potential default.
In a sentiment that could bolster Biden, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) say debt repayment and federal spending should be considered separately, while 26% say Congress should just let the government pay its own bills. debts only if the administration agrees to reduce federal spending. expenses. The White House has already said the debt ceiling must be raised unconditionally to pay for approved spending and avoid a catastrophic default.
There are divisions within the party over how the country should handle the war in Ukraine, reflecting a growing disbelief over rising costs linked to Biden’s pledge to continue supporting Ukrainians “as long as necessary.”
Nearly a year after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, 50% of Republicans say the United States is doing “too much” to support Ukraine, up from 18% last April. By contrast, 58% of Democrats say America is doing “about the right amount” and 22% say it’s doing too little. 40 percent of independents say that the country is doing the right thing. 21% say it’s too little, and 33% say it’s too much.
Overall, 40% of Americans say the United States is doing enough to help, and 19% say it is doing too little. But the share of people who say the country is doing “too much” has more than doubled, from 14% last April to 33% today.
In a speech Tuesday, McCarthy, who sits behind Biden, secured his presidency, and House Republicans pledged to create a subcommittee to investigate allegations that federal agencies are “weaponized” against conservatives. . The Post-ABC poll found that 28% of Americans believe federal government agencies are biased toward conservatives, while 11% believe they are biased toward liberals, and more than 42% believe they are not biased at all.
When asked about the upcoming Republican investigation in Congress, 36% of Americans said it was a “legitimate investigation,” while 56% said it was “just an attempt to score political points.”
Biden may use his speech to refer to mass shootings that have occurred during his presidency, including several last month. He could repeat his call for a new ban on the sale of assault weapons as if he were losing public support. Sharing The number of Americans who support an assault weapons ban fell from 56% in 2019 to 47%, one of the lowest levels in three decades in polls.
The post-ABC survey was conducted between January 27 and February 1, 2023, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points among the sample. large margin of error between completeness and subgroups. .
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