January 10, 2025
As President Biden prepares to leave the White House, only a quarter of the public view him as a great or good president.
Half of Democrats say Biden was a great or good president, compared with only 10% of independents and 4% of Republicans. A vast majority of Republicans view Biden as a poor or terrible president (82%) along with 56% of independents and 13% of Democrats. Overall, about 3 in 10 think Biden’s presidency was average.
The public had more positive views of Biden’s immediate predecessors. As Donald Trump was preparing to leave the White House in 2021, 36% described him as a great or good president. And eight years ago, about half of Americans described Barack Obama’s presidency as “great” or “good.”
Similar to views of the overall quality of his presidency, Biden’s approval rating also reveals steep partisan divides. In his final weeks in the White House, a majority disapprove of the way Biden is handling his job as president, with only 39% approving. Democrats (72%) are more likely than both independents (23%) and Republicans (8%) to approve of Biden’s job performance. Republicans are more likely than either Democrats or independents to disapprove (92% vs. 27% or 71%).
After four years with Biden in the White House, most Americans do not think they and their family or the country are better off. Again, Biden fares worse than his predecessors on both measures. At the end of Trump’s presidency, 38% felt their household and 31% thought the country were better off. When Obama was leaving the White House, 41% said their household and 46% said the country were better off than when he took office.
Like general evaluations of the president, deep partisan differences emerge. Democrats express more positivity about the four years of a Biden administration than Republicans or independents, both for themselves and the country overall. A majority of Republicans feel their household and the country as a whole are worse off since Biden took office.
Only 22% think Biden kept the promises he made while campaigning for the presidency. Democrats are more likely than both independents and Republicans to feel this way. Thirty-two percent felt that Obama kept the promises he made while running for president.
About half of Democrats and a quarter of Republicans feel that Biden tried, though was ultimately unsuccessful in keeping his promises. A majority of Republicans think Biden did not keep his word.
Over half feel Biden negatively impacted cost of living and immigration during his presidency.
Nearly 4 in 10 view student debt, job creation, and the cost of prescription drugs as among the top policy areas where Biden had a positive impact.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to think that Biden made a positive impact on all eight policy areas.
The nationwide poll was conducted December 5-9, 2024 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,251 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.7 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Biden’s legacy as president” (December 2024). https://apnorc.org/projects/bidens-legacy-as-president/
