Tag: approval ratings

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Biden Implores Governors To Reinstate Face Mask Mandates

President Joe Biden asks governors to reinstate face mask requirements before pandemic surges again

President Joe Biden asks governors to reinstate face mask requirements before pandemic surges again
President Joe Biden (screen capture)
During an event today announcing wider coronavirus vaccine eligibility, President Joe Biden called on “every governor, mayor, and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate – please.” “This is not politics,” Biden emphasized. “Reinstate the mandate if you let it down. And businesses should require masks as well. The failure to take this virus seriously — precisely what got us in this mess in the first place — risks more cases and more desks — deaths.” “We’re in the life-and-death race for the virus that is spreading quickly, with cases rising again, new variants are spreading,” added Biden. “And, sadly, some of the reckless behavior we have seen on television over the past few weeks means that more new cases are to come in the weeks ahead.”

Hours after Biden’s speech, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House briefing that while the nation has “much reason for hope,” she added, “but right now I’m scared.” “I am asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can, so that all of those people that we all love will still be here when this pandemic ends,” said Walensky. According to the New York Times COVID tracker, over the past week there has been an average of 63,204 cases per day, an increase of 15 percent from the average two weeks earlier. Biden also announced he’s directed his COVID team to make sure there’s a vaccine site within 5 miles of 90 percent of Americans by 3 weeks from today. In related news, the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey found that 71% of voters approve of how Biden has reacted to the pandemic, an increase of 3 points since February. Biden’s overall job approval stands at 61 percent with a relatively low disapproval at 39 percent.

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Biden’s Approval Rating Continues To Rise As Vaccinations Increase

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office
President Joe Biden (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
With the passage of the COVID relief package in Congress plus the increase in vaccinations for the coronavirus, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday shows the number of Americans who approve of President Joe Biden continues to increase. From Reuters:

The March 17-18 national opinion poll found that 59% of adults in the United States approved of Biden’s overall job performance, while 35% disapproved and 6% said they were not sure.

The number of adults who approve of Biden is up by about 4 percentage points since a poll that ran in late January, and the increase is largely due to a rise in Biden’s popularity among independents.

About six in 10 independents said they approved of Biden in the latest poll, up from about five in 10 who felt the same way in January.

Read the full article here. As some right-wing pundits discussed with glee Biden tripping on the steps of Air Force One, this tweet pretty much summed up the situation for me:

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Gallup: Trump’s Approval Rating Craters At 34%

Fifty-four percent of Americans believe Donald Trump should be impeached

The last Gallup poll to report on Donald Trump’s approval rating shows the 45th president will leave the Oval Office with a dismal 34 percent approval. The number of Americans who disapprove of the job Trump has done has skyrocketed to 62 percent. Those are Trump’s worst numbers in the weekly tracking poll. His average job approval over 4 years is 41 percent.

Donald Trump's approval rating has plummeted to 34 percent
(screen capture via Gallup)
It won’t be good news to Trump to learn that he lags far behind other recent presidents at this point in their time in office. At this point in their first terms in office, the three most recent presidents – Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton – all fared much better in terms of approval rating. Obama was at 54 percent, Bush was at 52 percent, and Clinton enjoyed 62 percent approval from the nation. Of course, it goes without saying that all three of those men served two terms in the Oval Office. See the graphic below. Donald Trump's approval rating is much lower than his recent predessessors As I recently reported, Trump’s approval rating hit another all-time low over at Pew Research which showed a sad 29% approval.

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Trump Pardoning Himself Is Very Unpopular With Americans

Donald Trump (screen capture)

A large majority of Americans oppose Donald Trump pardoning himself before leaving office
Donald Trump (screen capture)
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows two-thirds of Americans approve of how President-elect Joe Biden is handling the weeks leading up to his inauguration. According to the survey, 67% of those polled approve of Biden’s handling of the presidential transition while only 25% disapprove. Additionally, 49% are confident Biden will make the right decisions. Four years ago, only 35% believed  Trump would make good decisions. And speaking of the Donald… A large majority – 68% – oppose Trump pardoning himself versus 28% who support the move. Also – 54% of those polled feel Trump should be charged with a crime for inciting the riot that took place at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. By an almost 2-1 margin, Americans believe Biden won the presidential election. While 32% are naysayers, 62% believe Biden had a clean win. A clear majority of Americans – 58% – support Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Trump’s account. Forty-one percent oppose the idea. Almost half, 48%, strongly support the decision, while 36% strongly oppose it. My thoughts: count on Trump pardoning himself before he boards Marine One on the 20th. You can find the full results of the survey here.  

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Pew Research: Trump Numbers Are Down, Biden’s Are Up

Results from latest Pew Research Center
L-R President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden
As Donald Trump exits the presidency and Joe Biden is about to take the reins, Pew Research Center has released the results of its latest survey. The news is good for Biden, not so good for Trump. First of all, Trump leaves office with the worst job approval rating (29%) since he took office. The percentage of voters who score Trump’s conduct since the election as only fair or poor has ticked up from 68% in November to 76%. Pew shares that nearly all of the increase was in his “poor” ratings (62% now, 54% then). Even true Trumpers have grown weary of his post-election conduct. The share of his supporters who categorize his conduct as “poor” has doubled over the past two months, from 10% to 20%. Related – Gallup poll: Trump Approval Rating Continues To Drop More than two-thirds of voters (68%) say Trump should not continue to be a major national political figure while 29% feel he should remain a major figure in U.S. politics. • 75% say Trump bears at least some responsibility for the chaos and carnage that occurred at the U.S. Capitol building last week • 54% support Trump being impeached and removed from office • 58% of Americans approve of the job Joe Biden has done in explaining his plans and policies • 57% approve of Biden’s Cabinet choices and other high-level appointments • 46% expect Biden to improve the way the federal government in Washington, D.C., works, while 28% say he will make things worse Check out more results of the survey at Pew Research Center.

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60% Of Trump Supporters Say Rioters Hurt Democracy

Trump supporters say the insurrectionists undermined democracy
Donald Trump speaks at the White House (photo: public domain)
A majority of Trump supporters say the individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week were undermining U.S. democracy rather than protecting it. From the Quinnipiac University poll: • 62% of respondents who voted for Trump said the rioters were undermining democracy, 19 % said they were protecting it • 80% said the rioters were undermining democracy, 10% said they were protecting it • 56% of voters say they hold Donald Trump responsible for the storming of the U.S. Capitol, while 42 percent say they do not hold him responsible • 52% of voters say Trump should be removed from office, 45% disagree; 53% also say he should resign as president, 43% disagree • 84% of Trump voters said there was widespread voter fraud, even though there is no evidence to support those claims • 8 in 10 Trump supporters said they approve of how the president is handling his job, 10% said they disapprove, 10% had no opinion • Among registered voters overall, however, 60% disapprove of the job Trump is doing while 33% approve of Trump’s performance (which ties his all-time low) • 45% of voters say Trump is mentally stable, while 48% say he is not mentally stable

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Gallup: Trump Approval Drops To 38 Percent

Donald Trump

Donald Trump during a White House press briefing (public domain)
Per Gallup’s Daily Tracking averages, Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 38 percent with his disapproval rating at 57 percent. In regard to Trump’s full term to date, his highest approval rating via Gallup has been 49 percent, and his low 35 percent. His average Gallup rating has been 40 percent approval. For historical reference, the approval rating for other presidents in June of their fourth year: • Barack Obama – 46 percent approval • George W. Bush – 49 percent approval • Bill Clinton – 55 percent approval • George H.W. Bush – 37 percent approval • Ronald Reagan – 54 percent approval • Jimmy Carter – 32 percent approval • Richard Nixon – 58 percent approval

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News Round-Up: June 26, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • The Gaily Grind: The U.S. House unanimously passed a bill Friday that would establish the Pulse nightclub in Orlando as a national memorial site, four years after a gunman opened fire on hundreds of people inside the club, killing 49 LGBTQ Americans and wounding dozens more. • Texas Tribune: Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday expressed regret for the first time about the reopening process he spearheaded during the coronavirus pandemic, saying he should not have allowed bars to open as quickly. “If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars, now seeing in the aftermath of how quickly the coronavirus spread in the bar setting,” Abbott said. • New Music: The late Harry Hains, a compelling musician, actor (best known for American Horror Story, The OA) as well as artist and model, didn’t define himself by the constructs surrounding us, and his concept of ANTIBOY offers a portal into an age of existence where there is complete unparalleled freedom to live without preconceptions and societal labels. At a time when society is rising up to break down old systems and demanding equality for all, Harry’s personal perspective of the intersection of sexuality, gender, race, and self-expression endures because of its cultural relevance.

• NY Times: In the middle of a world-wide pandemic, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act — a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance program popularly known as Obamacare and wipe out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans. • NPR: Donald Trump’s disapproval numbers are at an all-time high, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Trump’s approval rating sits at just 40% overall, while a record 58% disapprove. What’s more, a whopping 49% of voters “strongly disapprove” of the job Trump is doing. That kind of intensity of disapproval is a record never before seen for this president or any past one. • Twitter: Add another musical group not having Donald Trump use their music at his rallies. Brendon Urie, lead singer for Panic! At The Disco, made it short and sweet in tweeting his disgust at the Trump campaign for using one his band’s song during its MAGA rally in Phoenix this week. “Dear Trump campaign,” Urie wrote on Twitter. “F*ck you. You’re not invited. Stop playing my song. No thanks, Brendon Urie, Panic! At The Disco & company.”

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Trump Approval Ratings Plummet In 6 Battleground States

Donald Trump

Donald Trump during a White House press briefing (public domain)
Donald Trump has seen his approval rating in six battleground states crucial to his reelection drop a precipitous 15 percentage points in the last month. As Trump faces an expanding economic collapse amid the ongoing COVID-19 health threat, nonpartisan polling group PRRI found Trump’s approval rating in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina plummet from 53% in March to a 38% approval rating. In terms of the entire nation, Trump fell from 49% approval to 43% approval. PRRI notes “Trump benefited from a brief ‘rally around the flag’ effect as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread in the U.S.” But with the number of confirmed U.S. cases of the coronavirus increasing exponentially from around 33,000 cases at the beginning of March to more than 1,000,000 cases and 63,000+ deaths today, that boost has quickly evaporated.