This is President Joe Biden’s final week in office. Over the past few weeks, several polls have come out analyzing Americans’ views on Biden’s handling of key issues over the past four years.
Predictably, many Americans have pointed out that Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration was poor. According to a new poll published Tuesday, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
A new poll from Gallup shows that Americans saw “little progress” in many key areas under Biden’s leadership. Of course, this includes in immigration, the economy, crime, and many other issues (via Gallup):
Majorities of Americans think the U.S. has lost ground in six areas over the past four years, including the federal debt (67%), immigration (64%), the gap between the wealthy and less well-off (60%), the economy (59%), the United States’ position in the world (58%) and crime (51%). Pluralities also say the nation has fallen behind in six other areas: education, terrorism, trade relations with other countries, race relations, the nation’s infrastructure and energy.
On the other hand, American adults are more likely to see progress (39%) than regression (23%) or steadiness (31%) on the issue of LGBTQ+ ideology.
American adults did not see progression or regression on climate change and “the situation for Black people,” according to the poll. Additionally, American adults are about evenly divided on whether the U.S. has lost ground or stood still on healthcare, national defense and the military, and taxes. A minority of Americans saw progress in these areas.
Broken down by political party, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have said the country has made progress during Biden‘s four-year term on 14 out of the 18 issues listed in the poll. This includes the nation’s infrastructure, trade relations with other countries, the economy, the situation for LGBTQ+ people, national defense and the military, terrorism, crime, climate change, healthcare, education, and race relations.
On the other hand, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents perceive the country has lost ground in 17 of the 18 areas over the past four years, with their most negative views on immigration, the federal debt and the economy. The only issue where right-leaning Americans saw progress was with LGBTQ+ ideology.
“Given Biden’s relatively low job approval rating and the expectation that history will judge his presidency negatively, it follows that Americans do not think the U.S. has improved during his time in office,” Gallup noted.
“Democrats’ generally subdued endorsement of Biden’s handling of a wide range of economic, national and international areas contribute to his unusually low net-positive ratings,” they added.
These findings are from a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 2-18.