Donald Trump continues to lead President Joe Biden as the campaign and the former president’s criminal prosecution progress. In addition, sentiments regarding the first terms of the two candidates running for a second four-year term in the White House now seem to favor Trump in the upcoming rematch, with the majority of Americans stating that Trump’s presidency was successful in the past while Biden’s has been a disaster thus far.
In a head-to-head battle with Biden, Trump’s support among registered voters remains constant at 49%, matching the results of CNN’s most recent national poll on the contest from January. Biden’s support is at 43%, barely changing from January’s 45%.
When all Americans look back, 55% say they think Trump’s administration was a success and 44% think it was a failure. Five-fifths of respondents to a January 2021 survey, conducted shortly before Trump’s resignation and a few days after the US Capitol attack on January 6, thought his presidency was a failure.
39% of respondents believe that Biden’s presidency has been successful thus far, while 61% believe that it has been a failure. That is marginally worse than the 57% who declared the first year of his government in January 2022 to be a failure and the 41% who said it was a success.
Republicans now agree more strongly than Democrats that Trump’s presidency was successful. Likewise, they believe that Biden’s has been successful. Republicans have generally rated Trump’s tenure as president as successful, scoring higher than Democrats (73%), who rate Biden’s term as successful thus far. Just 37% of independents believe that Biden’s presidency was successful, compared to 51% who believe that Trump’s was.
There is some agreement among Americans regarding the accomplishments of the last two presidents: 14% believe they were both failures, while 8% believe they were both successes. Only 30% of registered voters believe Biden’s administration has been successful and Trump’s has not, with almost half (47%) viewing Biden’s presidency as a failure and Trump’s as a success thus far. Though no previous modern president has made a similar comeback after losing an election, public opinion of former presidents often rises in retrospect.
For the majority of his administration, opinions of Biden’s work in office have been negative. As has been the case for more than a year, 60% of respondents to the most recent poll disapprove and 40% favor of the way he has handled the position. Even Biden’s greatest issue approval ratings in the poll—44% of respondents approving of his handling of student loan debt and 45% approving of his handling of health care policy—are in negative territory. Regarding his management of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, his lowest issue approval rating is 28% approval to 71% disapproval, with 81% of respondents under 35 disapproving and 53% of Democrats disapproving.
