Biden and his Covid-Relief bill prove popular in new CNN poll



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The popularity of the bill comes as President Joe Biden’s approval rating turns positive about 50 days after he is sworn in.

In the new poll, 61% support Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion economic relief bill that is expected to pass in the House on Wednesday, and several key provisions of the bill are even more popular. A large majority of Americans (85%) say they support the bill’s policies that would offer larger tax credits to families and make them easier to claim for low-income households, including majorities across the board. party lines (95% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support him). About three-quarters support provisions to provide funding to facilitate the return to class of K-12 students (77%) and to send stimulus checks worth up to $ 1,400 per person to most families and individuals (76%). These two policies also have majority support across party lines (55% of Republicans support each, among Democrats support exceeds 90% for each).

A smaller majority, 59%, say they support providing $ 350 billion in aid to states and local governments. This policy arouses the strongest partisan divide among the four tested, with 88% of Democrats in favor versus just 28% of Republicans.

A measure not in the bill – raising the federal minimum wage from $ 7.25 an hour to $ 15 an hour – also enjoys majority support. Overall, 55% are in favor of such a minimum wage increase, including 85% Democrats, 52% Independents and 20% Republicans.

About two-thirds of Americans say that if the bill becomes law, it will help the economy at least in part (66%), and 55% say it would help people like them. Those with lower annual incomes are more likely to say the bill will do a lot to help them than those with higher incomes (46% of those earning less than $ 25,000 a year say it will help them a lot. people like them, compared to just 6% of those making $ 100,000 or more per year), as do women (28% of women say it will help them a lot compared to 19% of men) and people of color (37% of people of color versus 16% among whites).

The great popularity of the bill comes from the fact that just over half of Americans say they approve of Biden’s way of handling the presidency (51%), while 41% disapprove of it. Biden scores higher for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic: 60% approve and 34% disapprove. And most, 54%, say the new president’s policies will move the country in the right direction.

Yet even with high hopes for an economic improvement from the Relief Bill, there are indications in this poll that Biden has yet to convince the public about his handling of the economy in general. His approval rating for his management is 49% agree to 44% disapprove, and only 30% say they have a lot of faith in Biden to deal with the economy.

Even as the bill is poised to become a major legislative achievement for the Biden administration, the president receives somewhat mixed reviews for his handling of some issues, including environmental policy (50% agree, 41% disapprove), helping the middle class (50% approve, 43% disapprove), racial injustice (47% approve, 43% disapprove), foreign affairs (44% approve and 46% disapprove) and immigration (43% agree and 49% disapprove).

Biden’s overall approval rating about two months into his presidency is higher than that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who held a 45% approval rating in a CNN poll in March 2017. But 51% of Biden lags behind other modern presidents, including the three most recent before Trump (Barack Obama, 64% in March 2009, George W. Bush, 58% in March 2001 and Bill Clinton, 53% in March 1993).

Biden and Trump both appear to be lagging behind due to a much sharper partisan polarization than their predecessors have experienced at this point in their presidencies.

Almost all Democrats approve of the way Biden handles work so far (92%) while almost all Republicans disapprove (88%). This is much the same as Trump’s partisan views in March 2017 (88% of Republicans approved and 89% of Democrats disapproved). In March 2009, Obama’s disapproval among Republicans was more than 20 points lower than that of Biden (65% disapproved), Bush’s disapproval among Democrats was only 49% in March 2001 and the rate of Clinton’s disapproval among Republicans in March 1993 was 59%.

Americans also appear to trust Biden more than Trump when it comes to political leadership measures. Overall, 38% say they have a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to provide real leadership for the country (31% said so about Trump in April 2017) and 34% have a lot of confidence in Biden to nominate them. best people in power. (Trump was at 27% in April 2017). About a third (32%) say they have great faith in Biden to work effectively with Congress.

The share of Americans who say things are going well in the country today rebounded after falling sharply in January. Overall, 39% say things are going well now, up from 22% in January and about the same as in October 2020 just before the presidential election. There has, however, been a clear partisan shift on this issue, as often happens when the Presidency changes hands. Only 9% of Democrats said things were going well in January, which rose to 59% in the new poll. On the Republican side, the percentage of those who say things are going well has risen from 37% in January to 19% now.

The CNN poll was conducted by the SSRS from March 3-8 among a random national sample of 1,009 adults reached on landlines or cell phones by a live interviewer. The results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The survey methodology and weighting incorporates some changes to CNN’s polling practices from the January 2021 survey. Cell phone interviews accounted for 75% of the total, compared to 65% in recent CNN surveys. The dialing lasted six days rather than four, which made it easier to reach out to those who are not easily reachable. Population weighting was adjusted to account for more distinct education categories broken down by race, and a geographic weight was applied to ensure a representative distribution by population density.

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