New polls suggest President Joe Biden gained no traction with the American public during his State of the Union address last week and may have even lost some ground.
On Tuesday, Yahoo News previewed the results from their latest poll, conducted in partnership with YouGov. The survey of 1,482 U.S. adults, conducted in the days immediately following President Biden’s March 7 address, showed the approval of 39 percent of respondents and disapproval of 55 percent of respondents. This latest poll shows no forward momentum for the incumbent Democrat compared to the last Yahoo News/YouGov survey, in January, in which 40 percent of respondents expressed approval and 56 percent expressed disapproval.
The January Yahoo News/YouGov survey showed that President Biden had 44 percent support against 45 percent support for his chief Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. The latest results by the polling duo showed 44 percent of respondents supported President Biden, while 46 percent supported President Trump, a slight uptick but still within the poll’s 2.8 percent margin of error.
The findings from these Yahoo News/YouGov polls track with other pre-/post-State of the Union polling samples.
A Forbes/Harris poll conducted on Feb. 24-28 showed President Biden with a 39-percent approval rating and a 56-percent disapproval rating. A March 8-10 survey by Forbes/Harris showed President Biden with a 37-percent approval rating and a 58-percent disapproval rating.
A Feb. 25-27 poll by Economist/YouGov showed 43 percent of respondents approved of the job President Biden was doing as president while 52 percent disapproved. A March 10-12 survey by the same duo showed the sitting president with a 39-percent approval rating and 55-percent disapproval rating. The Economist/YouGov polls asked a separate question about how respondents viewed President Biden: 44 percent of respondents expressed a favorable view of President Biden, and 54 percent expressed a disfavorable view in the Feb. 25-27 survey, while 43 percent of respondents viewed him favorably and 54 percent viewed him disfavorably in the March 10-12 survey.
FiveThirtyEight’s weighted polling analysis showed President Biden with a 37.9-percent approval rating and 56.6-percent disapproval rating on March 6, the day before his address. As of Wednesday, those figures had narrowed slightly, with President Biden enjoying a 38 percent approval rating and a 56 percent disapproval rating.
Last week’s State of the Union address may be the last of President Biden’s White House tenure. This year’s presidential election will decide who gets to deliver the annual speech in 2025.
On Tuesday, President Biden and President Trump both secured enough delegates to clinch the presidential primary contests in their respective parties. The results put the two on a path toward a rematch of the 2020 election.
Poll Shows Biden Gains Ground on Individual Issues
While a comparison of the two latest Yahoo News/YouGov polls shows President Biden netted no overall support following the State of the Union, the comparison indicates he had some success convincing viewers of his administration’s handling of some specific issues.
The January Yahoo News/YouGov survey showed 34 percent of respondents approved of the Biden administration’s efforts to address inflation, while 58 percent disapproved. In the latest Yahoo News/YouGov survey, 38 percent of respondents approved of President Biden’s job on inflation, and 48 percent disapproved; a 14-point swing in his favor, though he still remains underwater on the issue.
The January Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed President Biden with a 39-percent approval rating on the issue of the economy overall and a 54-percent disapproval rating on the topic. The latest survey showed him with a 42-percent approval rating and 47-percent disapproval rating, a 10-point swing in his favor.
During his State of the Union address, President Biden said wages had gone up while the rate of inflation in the U.S. economy slowed from 9 percent to 3 percent during his time in the White House.
The January Yahoo News/YouGov survey showed 31 percent of respondents approved of President Biden’s job on immigration, while 59 percent disapproved. The more recent findings by this polling duo showed that 37 percent of respondents approved of the president’s efforts on immigration, while 50 percent disapproved, a 15-point swing in his favor.
Congress had considered legislation to add new border and immigration provisions in February, but the effort failed, with many Republicans arguing that the provisions would do little to address illegal border crossings. The Biden administration has insisted the deal provided strong bipartisan border and immigration solutions but that President Trump convinced Congressional Republicans to scuttle the effort. President Biden reiterated those claims during his State of the Union address.
President Biden has also made some headway on the topic of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. In the January Yahoo News/YouGov, 31 percent of respondents approved the president’s efforts on this foreign policy issue, while 51 percent disapproved. The latest polling results showed 33 percent of respondents approved of President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and 42 percent disapproved, an 11-point shift in his favor. President Biden has faced pressure from some in his party to push for a ceasefire and ensure more humanitarian aid flows into the embattled Gaza Strip. During his State of the Union address, the president announced plans to build a port on the Gaza coastline to facilitate new humanitarian aid deliveries by sea.
