September 15, 2022
Two months ahead of the midterm elections, President Biden’s approval ratings and perceptions of the economy have improved, although both are still largely negative.
On the heels of several policy successes for the president, 45% of Americans approve of his job performance, up from his lowest rating of 36% in July. While only 38% approve of how Biden is handling the economy, that is also up from its low point in June, when 28% approved.
The improvement in Biden’s ratings is largely driven by renewed support among Democrats. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance, up from 65% in July and 72% in June.
Democrats have also increased their positive opinion of how the president is handling the economy. Sixty-six percent approve of his economic policies, up from 54% in June.
While still negative, independents have become slightly more positive about Biden’s job performance since June. At that time 25% approved of how he was handling his job; now 36% do. And in June, 14% of independents approved of Biden’s management of the economy; now 28% have a favorable view.
Republicans remain highly negative of the president’s job performance.
Views of economic conditions remain negative, though are rosier now compared to June. Again, Democrats have an improved view of the economy, while Republicans remain largely negative.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans now say things in the country are headed in the right direction, up from 17% in July and 14% in June. Democrats are particularly more optimistic compared with earlier this summer. In the latest poll, 44% of Democrats say the country is headed in the right direction and 54% say it is going in the wrong direction. In June, only 21% of Democrats said things were going in the right direction.
The nationwide poll was conducted September 9-12, 2022 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 1,054 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points.
- Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (September 2022). “Despite some signals of optimism, the public remains largely dissatisfied with the economy and the direction of the country” https://apnorc.org/projects/despite-some-signals-of-optimism-the-public-remains-largely-dissatisfied-with-the-economy-and-the-direction-of-the-country/
