Biden’s approval dips below VP Harris’ ratings in new survey

Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris is polling well these days, but the latter seems to have fallen out of favor with the American people faster than the former.

Until now, that is.

A survey taken between Dec. 1-16 by Gallup asked 800 adults to rank federal officials in terms of approval; Chief Justice John Roberts actually scored the highest with a 60 percent approval rating, followed by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell with a 53 percent rating and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, with 52 percent.

No one else on the list broke the 50-percent approval rating benchmark, including Biden and Harris — though the vice president came in with a 44 percent approval versus 43 percent for Biden.

That said, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) outperformed both Biden and Harris with survey respondents, logging a 46 percent approval rating.

“The poll finds the public divided in their evaluations of the job that two high profile members of the Biden Administration are doing — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Both appointees receive 49% job approval ratings with 43% disapproving,” Gallup noted, adding: “Americans’ impressions of the bottom four ranking figures are decidedly more negative.”

At the very bottom of the survey: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who was at 40 percent approval versus 58 percent disapproval, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, with an approval/disapproval split of 34/63.

“Gallup has limited trends on these job approval ratings, but it’s noteworthy that Harris’ approval rating has declined from 49% since September; at the same time, Biden’s has been steady at 43%. Her disapproval rating has increased from 49% to 54%,” Gallup reported.

The pick of Roberts as Washington’s most popular surprised some observers, but Gallup explained the results thusly: His appeal crosses the political aisle.

“Roberts is the only one of the leaders rated this year who receives majority approval from Republicans (57%) and Democrats (55%) in addition to political independents (64%). Most of the other leaders are viewed positively by two-thirds or more of one party versus less than a quarter of the other,” said the polling firm.

McConnell, meanwhile, appears to be the polar opposite of Roberts.

“A key exception is McConnell, whose performance is approved of by less than half of Republicans (46%),” Gallup noted. “At the same time, he receives the lowest ratings of the 11 from Democrats (21%) and independents (35%). Strikingly, majorities of all three groups disapprove of McConnell: 75% of Democrats, 64% of independents and 52% of Republicans.”

The polling firm also offered another perspective as to why McCarthy is viewed as the more favorable GOP leader over McConnell.

“Unlike McConnell, who has had a falling out with former President Donald Trump since he left office, McCarthy maintains a cordial relationship with Trump,” noted Gallup. “McConnell and McCarthy have also taken different approaches to lifting the debt ceiling, with McCarthy opting out of supporting a bipartisan deal that McConnell backed.”

Jon Dougherty

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles