Poll: President Biden’s Accomplishments

This Navigator Research report contains polling data onsupport for and awareness of President Biden’s accomplishments while in office, as well as how exposure to Biden’s record impacts his approval rating.

President Biden’s most popular accomplishments include lowering drug costs, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Lowering prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices is President Biden’s most supported accomplishment, earning support from over three in four Americans (77 percent), including 71 percent of independents and 64 percent of Republicans. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also earns support from nearly three in four Americans (73 percent), including 65 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans. Majorities of Americans have also heard at least “some” about both lowering the cost of prescription drugs (57 percent) and investing in infrastructure (55 percent), though only about a quarter of Americans have heard “a lot” about them (25 percent each). 

• While 69 percent of Americans say they support passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, described as “a bipartisan law that invests in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, improves our domestic supply chains, boosts economic competition with China, & has created more than 100,000 new American jobs,” only 41 percent say they have heard “a lot” or “some” about it. Similarly, while 66 percent of Americans support Biden’s position on unions and manufacturing, including creating 800,000 American manufacturing jobs and standing behind workers on the picket line, only 48 percent have heard at least some about this.
• Other highly-supported Biden accomplishments that Americans have heard the least about include record workforce participation rates (65 percent support, though 34 percent have heard about this), signing gun safety legislation into law (64 percent support, though 39 percent have heard about this), and that the share of Americans without health insurance has come down by nearly 6 million as compared to before the coronavirus pandemic (64 percent support, though 34 percent have heard about this).

After learning about President Biden’s accomplishments, his net approval rating significantly improves.

Initially in this survey, President Biden’s net approval rating is underwater by 18 points (40 percent approve – 58 percent disapprove). After being presented with a number of policies and actions describing the President’s record while in office, Biden’s approval rating increased by a net 11 points (from net -18 to net -7; 45 percent approve – 52 percent disapprove), with shifts in net approval even higher among independents (net +20, from net -51 to net -31) and those who voted for Biden in 2020 (net +13, from net +55 to net +68). 

• 6 percent of Americans overall shift toward approving of Biden after reading about his accomplishments. Groups that are even more likely to not initially approve of him but shift toward approving of his job handling include Americans who are unfavorable toward both Biden and Trump (17 percent), Americans younger than 35 years old (12 percent), and college-educated women (12 percent). 11 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islanders and 10 percent of Americans in union households moved toward approving of Biden’s job handling as president after reading about his record.