Overall approval rate of 60 percent....

Joe Biden gets his 100-day report card

Biden’s overall approval rate was 60 percent, well above Trump’s 48 percent approaching 100 days in office.

By BEN LEONARD

Joe Biden earned relatively high marks from both independents and members of his own party through 100 days in office, a new poll conducted by POLITICO and Morning Consult shows, but the president has yet to impress Republicans despite his promises of bipartisanship on the campaign trail and in office.

Eighty-five percent of Democrats polled gave Biden an “A” or “B” grade for his first 100 days in office, while 44 percent of independents surveyed gave Biden the same marks. That’s more independent and intraparty support for Biden than former President Donald Trump got in his first 100 days, when just 32 percent of independents surveyed and 72 percent of Republicans polled gave Trump either an "A" or a "B".

But Trump and Biden got identical cross-party grading, with 14 percent of Republicans giving Biden an "A" or "B" grade, the same marks Trump got from Democrats four years ago ahead of his 100th day. Biden’s overall approval rate was 60 percent, well above Trump’s 48 percent ahead of his 100th day in April 2017, according to the new poll.

Biden has enjoyed more support than Trump from within his own party in his early days in office, backed by a largely unified Democratic Party in the 2020 election and beyond. With his incendiary remarks and unconventional style, Trump was a more controversial candidate and president inside and outside of the Republican Party in his first 100 days. He remains a controversial figure inside the GOP even as he wields outsize influence over the party from his post-presidential residence in Florida.

Biden has called for restoring unity in a divided nation throughout his campaign and while in office, something that 41 percent of respondents gave him an “A” or a “B” for, while 51 percent gave him a "C" or worse. Views on Biden’s calls for unity have been bitterly partisan — less than 10 percent of Republican respondents gave him a “B” or better, while nearly seven in 10 Democrats polled gave him an "A" or "B".

Fifty-three percent of those polled did say Biden has done more to unite than divide as president, while 35 percent said he has done more to divide than unite.

Biden is set to give his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, in which he’ll roll out his trillion-dollar-plus “American Families Plan."

Fewer than 100 days in, Biden has secured a major legislative victory in passing a sprawling coronavirus relief package and has focused on his handling of the pandemic and the economy, as well as pushing a massive, broadly defined infrastructure package. Biden has also called for Congress to take action on voting rights and gun legislation, while taking some executive actions on guns.

In the new poll, respondents gave Biden his highest marks so far for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 60 percent of those surveyed giving him an “A” or “B” grade, including more than a quarter of Republicans. Sixty-seven percent of respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of Biden's pandemic response.

Seventy percent of those polled also either “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of the Biden administration’s efforts to roll out vaccines, with just 22 percent disapproving.

Some of the president's strongest grades also came on jobs and the economy, but voters were more critical of Biden on his handling of immigration and the national debt.

A majority of respondents either “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of Biden’s handling of jobs and the economy. Forty-four percent gave him an “A” or “B” on jobs, while 46 percent gave him an “A” or “B” on the economy.

A majority of those surveyed also have “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of his handling of climate change, racial injustice, the environment, health care, education and energy.

Biden’s support was weaker on the issue of immigration, with just 13 percent of respondents giving him an "A" and 19 percent giving him a "B", while 44 percent of those polled gave him a "D" or "F" grade. Just eight percent of GOP respondents and 24 percent of independents gave Biden an “A” or “B” on immigration.

Republicans and members of conservative media have laid into the Biden administration for its handling of a record influx of migrants arriving at the nation's southern border. Just 39 percent of those polled "strongly" or "somewhat" approved of his handling of the situation, with 46 percent "strongly" or "somewhat" disapproving.

With high levels of spending under his administration, Biden also earned poor grades from respondents on his handling of the country’s national debt, with just 28 percent of voters giving him an “A” or “B".

A plurality of those surveyed think Biden’s job performance will only get better over his term, with 46 percent of voters saying it will improve. Thirty percent said it will get worse and 17 percent said it would “stay about the same.”

Biden had the highest favorability of all the politicians about whom the survey asked. The president was viewed favorably by 58 percent of those polled.

Democrats in Congress enjoyed significantly higher favorability ratings — 49 percent — than those of their GOP counterparts, who were seen favorably by 34 percent respondents. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was viewed favorably by just 23 percent of those polled, including less than half of Republicans, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seen favorably by 39 percent of voters.

Trump’s favorability rating was just 37 percent, lower than his former Vice President Mike Pence, who had a favorability rating of 39 percent. Still, Trump remains broadly popular among GOP voters, with 80 percent of Republicans viewing him favorably. That’s slightly higher than Pence’s 77 percent favorability among Republicans surveyed.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted from April 24-26, surveying 1,991 registered voters nationwide. The poll's margin of error was plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.