The US president’s approval rating is now lower than that of his vice president and numerous others in his administration
President Joe Biden has been rated less favorably than Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Anthony Fauci in a new Gallup survey of the performance of US federal leaders published on Monday.
Only three figures gained a favorable response from the majority of those polled: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Fauci. Roberts scored highest, with 60% approval from respondents, while Powell and Fauci received 53% and 52%, respectively.
Biden fared worse, gaining only 43% approval and 51% disapproval. The president has struggled for weeks in national polls, his rating consistently falling as the country deals with numerous crises, from the highest inflation in decades to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harris scored higher than her one-time competitor for the Democratic Party 2020 presidential nomination. The former California senator garnered 44% approval – although this represents a 5% decline from her September rating. She also received a slightly higher disapproval score than Biden, with 54% viewing her performance negatively. She has earned criticism from pundits and activists alike over issues on which she has been delegated to lead, such as the uptick in illegal immigration numbers at the US southern border since Biden took office.
The two federal leaders ranked the lowest in the survey were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), with 40% and 34% approval, respectively – the only congressional leaders to score lower than the president.
As is typical of polls in the US, the percentages vary dramatically across party lines. Fauci, for instance, received only a 19% approval from those identifying themselves as Republicans, while 85% of Democrats said they approved of the way he led the pandemic response.
The Gallup survey polled over 800 adults between December 1 and December 16.
