(Americans remain unsatisfied with the job President Joe Biden is doing and the direction in which he is leading the country.
As Biden prepares for the end of his term, Americans’ assessment of his performance shows that just 39% approve of the job he is doing as president, while only 19% expressed satisfaction with the country’s trajectory, according to Gallup’s latest survey.
Since “at least 2010, the nation has been in a public opinion rut,” Gallup said. “Presidential job approval has rarely exceeded 50%, and congressional job approval hasn’t exceeded 36%.”
Biden’s approval rating fluctuated in his early days in office, with slightly positive scores above 50%. However, those swiftly declined due to various economic challenges and policy issues, including his administration’s failure to address rapid rises in inflation, as well as his failed withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Biden’s approval ratings settled in the high 30s to low 40s leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
According to the poll, Congress’s job approval rating was just 17% in December, remaining under 20% for most of 2024.
The Gallup poll also stated that only 20% of Americans were currently satisfied with the nation’s course, a figure that stayed relatively unchanged in recent surveys.
Approval has not been above the 50% mark since December 2003, two years into the George W. Bush presidency.
“[E]xcept for a brief period before the start of the pandemic in 2020, less than 40% have been satisfied with the direction of the country,” Gallup noted.
It reached its lowest point in October 2008, with only 7% approving of the country’s direction after the economic meltdown that fueled the so-called Great Recession and all but secured the election of Barack Obama over GOP rival John McCain.
Obama’s lowest point—11% in September 2011—equalled that of his successor, Donald Trump, following the U.S. Capitol uprising in January 2021. However, the public’s satisfaction with the direction of the country then was likely impacted somewhat by Biden’s inauguration, as well.
By contrast, the highest number recorded during Obama’s presidency, 37%, came in November 2016, the month that Trump was elected.
The number rose to 45% in February 2020, which also marked the conclusion of congressional Democrats’ first impeachment attempt against Trump. Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted on Feb. 5 of that year to acquit Trump of pressuring new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the Biden family’s corruption involving the Burisma energy company.
Roughly a month later, the first cases of COVID-19 reached the U.S. and Europe, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic emergency and public satisfaction to once again plummet.
As the nation prepares for a leadership transition when Trump is sworn in again on Jan. 20—this time as the 47th president of the United States—these steady yet subdued ratings offered insight into the challenges faced by the outgoing administration and underscored the public’s cautious outlook on the future.
The recent Gallup poll was conducted from Dec. 2 to Dec. 18. Biden’s final job approval reading is expected in January.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
