POLL-Biden approval rises to 40%, highest in two months, Reuters/Ipsos shows

U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval rose this week to its highest level since early June following a string of legislative victories, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Tuesday.

The two-day national poll found that 40% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, a level of support that is historically low for a U.S. president. But the recent upward turn in Biden’s approval rating – including gains in each of the last three weeks – could temper the concern among his Democrats that the party is poised to take a drubbing in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, when Republicans hope to seize control of the U.S. Congress.

On Sunday, the U.S. Senate approved a landmark bill to fight climate change, lower drug prices and raise some corporate taxes. The Biden-backed measure, which is expected to win approval in the U.S. House of Representatives, was a major legislative win that Democrats hope will boost voter enthusiasm ahead of November. Biden signed another major bill into law on Tuesday to provide subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and to boost efforts to make the United States more competitive with China’s science and technology efforts.

Tuesday’s poll showed 78% of respondents who identified as Democrats approved of Biden, up from 69% a month earlier. Only 12% of Republicans approved of Biden this week, a figure that has remained largely steady in recent weeks. Biden’s overall approval rating had hit the lowest level of his presidency – 36% – in May, and has been below 50% since August of last year as Americans grapple with high inflation and an economy still scarred by the COVID-19 crisis.

Biden’s lowest ratings have rivaled the lows of his predecessor, Donald Trump, whose popularity bottomed out at 33% in December 2017. The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English throughout the United States. The latest poll gathered responses from a total of 1,005 adults, including 445 Democrats and 357 Republicans. It has a credibility interval – a measure of precision – of four percentage points.

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