New Polls: It Turns Out Americans Like a Normal, Boring President

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Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Americans largely approve of Joe Biden’s performance as president so far, two new polls indicate. 
The first, released Sunday by ABC and Ipsos, surveyed 513 adults and showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans are optimistic about the next year—the most optimistic we’ve been as a country in more than a decade. (Seriously, the last time we felt this good about where the US was headed was 2006, ABC reports.)
The second poll, released by Yahoo News and YouGov on Friday, looked specifically at Biden’s first 1oo days in office. Out of the 1,558 adults surveyed, 57 percent said they approved of Biden’s handling of the pandemic. When asked if Biden’s performance has been better, worse, or the about same as what they expected, most people, 39 percent, said better, while 28 percent said worse and 24 percent said about the same.
Overall, Biden’s approval rating is 54 percent, according to Yahoo News. (By contrast, Donald Trump’s approval rating peaked at 48 percent, five days into office.)
Yahoo News/YouGovIt wasn’t all good news for Biden. For one, more Americans (28 percent) think the country has become more divided than united (23 percent) since Biden took office, according to the ABC/Ipsos poll. And a closer look at the numbers reveals even deeper divisions: For the group that thought the country is more united, an overwhelming majority credited Biden. For the group that thought the country has become more divided, a smaller, but solid majority also blamed Biden.
Looking ahead, the polls also suggest that a majority of the country—including both Democrats and Republicans—favor bipartisanship, and that Republican leaders aren’t doing enough to compromise. A little more than half say Biden is making the “right amount” of effort to compromise with Republican leaders, while 39 percent say he is doing too little.
Ipsos