Ballotpedia's Polling Index: Opinion polling during the Biden administration

During President Joe Biden's (D) term, Ballotpedia tracked 3,219 approval polls from 35 polling firms that asked voters about the direction of the country and their approval of Congress' and Biden's job performance. This page is an overview of opinion polling averages during Biden's term. Ballotpedia's polling indexes are an average of polls that measure public sentiment on presidential job approval, congressional job approval, and satisfaction with the overall direction of the country.

Ballotpedia's polling index was updated daily on weekdays from January 25, 2021, through the end of Biden's term on January 20, 2025. The most recent poll released by each qualifying source was included in each day's opinion averages. Polls were removed from the opinion averages when the pollster released a more recent poll or if 30 days had passed since the poll had been in the field, whichever occurred first. This means that all the figures on this page, even those referring to specific dates, are averages from across multiple polls rather than numbers taken from any one poll.

To view the current polling index, click here. For a comparison of opinion polling under the first Trump and Biden administrations, click here. For a comparison of opinion polling under the second Trump and Biden administrations, click here.

On this page, you will find coverage of three polling averages:

• Presidential job approval: This average tracks the proportion of Americans who approved of Biden's job performance.
• Congressional job approval: This average tracks the proportion of Americans who approved of Congress' job performance during Biden's term.
• Direction of the country: This average tracks the proportion of Americans who felt the country was headed in the right direction during Biden's term.

Polling averages

The chart below displays all three polling averages tracked on this page. Scroll to one of the below sections for more specifics on a particular average.

Presidential approval

HIGHLIGHTS

President Biden's average approval rating ranged from a high of 55% to a low of 38%, with an overall average across his term of 43%.

His disapproval rating ranged from a high of 57% to a low of 34% with an overall average across his term of 52%.

The approval rating spread—the difference between the president's average approval and disapproval ratings on any one given day—ranged from an average 20% net approval to an average 19% net disapproval, with his overall average spread at 9% disapproval.

President Biden average approval rating, 2021-2025
Year	Overall average approval	Highest approval average	Lowest approval average	Overall average disapproval	Highest disapproval average	Lowest disapproval average	Overall average approval spread	Most positive approval spread	Most negative approval spread
Year 1 Jan. 20, 2021 - Jan. 19, 2022	49%	55%	42%	45%	53%	34%	4%	20%	-11%
Year 2 Jan. 20, 2022 - Jan. 19, 2023	41%	44%	38%	54%	57%	52%	-13%	-8%	-19%
Year 3 Jan. 20, 2023 - Jan. 19, 2024	42%	45%	39%	54%	57%	51%	-12%	-2%	-18%
Year 4 Jan. 20, 2024 - Jan, 20, 2025	40%	42%	39%	56%	57%	54%	-15%	-12%	-18%
Overall	43%	55%	38%	52%	57%	34%	-9%	20%	-19%

Largest approval spreads

The five weeks during President Biden's term when his weekly average approval spread was highest were:

1. Feb. 1-5, 2021: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was +18.6%, with his approval rating averaging 54.0% and his disapproval rating averaging 35.4%.
2. Feb. 15-19, 2021: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was +17.6%, with his approval rating averaging 54.0% and his disapproval rating averaging 36.5%.
3. Feb. 8-12, 2021: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was +16.5%, with his approval rating averaging 53.0% and his disapproval rating averaging 36.5%.
4. Feb. 22-26, 2021: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was +15.0%, with his approval rating averaging 53.4% and his disapproval rating averaging 38.4%.
5. Jan. 25-29, 2021: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was +14.5%, with his approval rating averaging 52.7% and his disapproval rating averaging 38.2%.

The five weeks during President Biden's term when his weekly average approval spread was lowest were:

1. July 18-22, 2022: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was -18.1%, with his approval rating averaging 38.4% and his disapproval rating averaging 56.5%.
2. July 8-12, 2024: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was -18.0%, with his approval rating averaging 39.2% and his disapproval rating averaging 57.2%.
3. July 25-29, 2022: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was -17.9%, with his approval rating averaging 38.3% and his disapproval rating averaging 56.2%.
4. July 15-19, 2024: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was -17.6%, with his approval rating averaging 39.6% and his disapproval rating averaging 57.3%.
5. Aug. 8-12, 2022: President Biden's average approval spread for the week was -17.5%, with his approval rating averaging 39.0% and his disapproval rating averaging 56.6%.

Complete poll results

Click here to view our complete database of qualifying presidential approval polls for the Biden administration.

Congressional approval

HIGHLIGHTS

For the first two years of President Biden's term, both chambers of Congress had Democratic majorities. Control was split during the second two years of his term, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats controlling the Senate.

Congress' approval rating ranged from 36% to 13% during President Biden's term, with an overall average of 23%.

Congress' disapproval rating ranged from 76% to 51% during President Biden's term, with an overall average of 63%.

The approval rating spread—the difference between Congress' average approval and disapproval ratings on any one given day—ranged from an average 18% net disapproval to an average 63% net disapproval, with an overall average of 40% net disapproval.

U.S. Congress average approval rating, 2021-2025
Year	Overall average approval	Highest approval average	Lowest approval average	Overall average disapproval	Highest disapproval average	Lowest disapproval average	Overall average approval spread	Most positive approval spread	Most negative approval spread
Year 1 Jan. 20, 2021 - Jan. 19, 2022	23%	36%	13%	60%	70%	52%	-37%	-18%	-55%
Year 2 Jan. 20, 2022 - Jan. 19, 2023	22%	30%	14%	63%	73%	51%	-41%	-24%	-55%
Year 3 Jan. 20, 2023 - Jan. 19, 2024	24%	33%	15%	64%	76%	51%	-40%	-20%	-61%
Year 4 Jan. 20, 2024 - Jan, 20, 2025	21%	28%	13%	65%	76%	58%	-44%	-30%	-63%
Overall	23%	36%	13%	63%	76%	51%	-40%	-18%	-63%

Largest approval spreads

The five weeks during President Biden's term when Congress' weekly average approval spread was highest were:

1. July 12-16, 2021: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -21.1%, with its approval rating averaging 34.6% and its disapproval rating averaging 55.7%.
2. April 17-21, 2023: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -24.7%, with its approval rating averaging 30.7% and its disapproval rating averaging 55.4%.
3. Feb. 15-19, 2021: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -24.7%, with its approval rating averaging 28.2% and its disapproval rating averaging 52.9%.
4. July 6-9, 2021: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -25.1%, with its approval rating averaging 32.0% and its disapproval rating averaging 57.1%.
5. Feb. 1-5, 2021: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -27.0%, with its approval rating averaging 26.9% and its disapproval rating averaging 53.9%.

The five weeks during President Biden's term when Congress' weekly average approval spread was lowest were:

1. June 17-21, 2024: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -62.3%, with its approval rating averaging 13.6% and its disapproval rating averaging 75.9%.
2. Oct. 16-20, 2023: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -59.2%, with its approval rating averaging 15.9% and its disapproval rating averaging 75.1%.
3. June 24-28, 2024: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -58.4%, with its approval rating averaging 14.6% and its disapproval rating averaging 73.0%.
4. April 22-26, 2024: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -57.6%, with its approval rating averaging 13.4% and its disapproval rating averaging 71.0%.
5. Oct. 30 - Nov. 3, 2023: Congress' average approval spread for the week was -56.7%, with its approval rating averaging 16.6% and its disapproval rating averaging 73.3%.

Complete poll results

Click here, then select the "Congressional Approval" tab to view our complete database of qualifying Congressional approval polls for the Biden administration.

Direction of the country

HIGHLIGHTS

The percentage of Americans who felt the country was headed in the right direction ranged from 44% to 18% during President Biden's term, with a termwide overall average of 29%.

The percentage of Americans who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction ranged from 76% to 50% during President Biden's term, with a termwide overall average of 63%.

The direction of the country spread—the difference between the percentage of Americans who felt the country was headed in the right direction and those who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction—ranged from a net 6% to a net 58% who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction during President Biden's term. The overall termwide average was a net 35% of Americans who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction.

Direction of the country rating, 2021-2025
Year	Overall average % who felt the country was headed in the right direction	Highest average % who felt the country was headed in the right direction	Lowest average % who felt the country was headed in the right direction	Overall average % who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction	Highest average % who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction	Lowest average % who felt the country was headed in the wrong direction	Overall average direction of the country spread	Most positive approval spread	Most negative approval spread
Year 1 Jan. 20, 2021 - Jan. 19, 2022	36%	44%	22%	57%	69%	50%	-21%	-6%	-47%
Year 2 Jan. 20, 2022 - Jan. 19, 2023	26%	32%	18%	67%	76%	61%	-41%	-31%	-58%
Year 3 Jan. 20, 2023 - Jan. 19, 2024	26%	34%	21%	65%	68%	60%	-39%	-26%	-46%
Year 4 Jan. 20, 2024 - Jan. 20, 2025	26%	30%	22%	64%	68%	60%	-38%	-31%	-44%
Overall	29%	44%	18%	63%	76%	50%	-35%	-6%	-58%

Largest approval spreads

The five weeks during President Biden's term when the direction of the country spread was most positive were:

1. July 12-26, 2021: A net 7.6% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 42.7% saying it was headed in the right direction and 50.3% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
2. July 6-9, 2021: A net 8.2% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 42.6% saying it was headed in the right direction and 50.8% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
3. June 1-4, 2021: A net 8.4% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 41.6% saying it was headed in the right direction and 50.0% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
4. April 19-23, 2021: A net 8.5% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 43.2% saying it was headed in the right direction and 51.6% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
5. March 29 - April 2, 2021: A net 8.9% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 42.6% saying it was headed in the right direction and 51.5% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.

The five weeks during President Biden's term when the direction of the country spread was most negative were:

1. July 11-15, 2022: A net 56.8% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 18.4% saying it was headed in the right direction and 75.2% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
2. July 5-8, 2022: A net 56.7% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 18.3% saying it was headed in the right direction and 74.8% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
3. July 18-22, 2022: A net 55.5% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 19.4% saying it was headed in the right direction and 74.9% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
4. July 25-29, 2022: A net 54.0% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 19.6% saying it was headed in the right direction and 73.6% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.
5. June 27- July 1, 2022: A net 51.9% of Americans felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 20.3% saying it was headed in the right direction and 72.2% saying it was headed in the wrong direction.

Complete poll results

Click here, then click the "Direction of Country" tab to view our complete database of qualifying polls about the direction of the country under the Biden administration.

Sources

For Ballotpedia's presidential approval, congressional approval, direction of the country, and generic congressional ballot polling results, we take an average of the most recent polls (from the last 30 days, with some exceptions for major news events) on one or more of these topics conducted by the following sources:

• CBS News (or CBS News and The New York Times)
• The Economist / YouGov
• Fox News
• Gallup
• Pew Research
• Quinnipiac University
• Rasmussen Reports
• Reuters / Ipsos
• USA Today / Suffolk University
• The Wall Street Journal / NBC
• The Washington Post / ABC
• Politico/Morning Consult (added March 6, 2017)
• Investors' Business Daily/TechnoMetrica (IBD/TIPP) (added April 4, 2017)
• Public Policy Polling (added April 10, 2017)
• The Marist Poll (added September 19, 2017)
• Monmouth University (added September 21, 2017)
• CNN (added September 22, 2017)
• Emerson College (added January 12, 2018)
• Harvard-Harris Poll (added February 22, 2018)
• Grinnell College(added September 12, 2018)
• ScottRasmussen.com(added September 14, 2018)
• NewsNation(added June 7, 2023)
• Civiqs(added June 15, 2023)
• Harris X(added June 16, 2023)
• Yahoo! News / YouGov(added July 21, 2023)
• The New York Times / Siena(added March 4, 2024)

Ballotpedia chose to include polls from these organizations in our averages because we regard their methodologies as broadly trustworthy and reliable. If you know of other outlets who do aggregate polling on these topics, email us. We average the results and show all polling results side-by-side because we believe that paints a clearer picture of public opinion than any individual poll can provide. The data is updated daily as new polling results from the above sources are published.

Questions

Typical poll questions asked either online or by phone include:

Presidential approval

• "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President?"
• "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama has handled his job as president?"
• Some polls also allow respondents more than two options, such as Strongly Approve, Somewhat Approve, Somewhat Disapprove, or Strongly Disapprove.

Congressional approval

• "Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way that the United States Congress is handling its job?"
• "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job?"

Direction of country

• "Do you feel things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?"
• "All in all, do you think things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction, or do you feel things are off on the wrong track?"
• "Would you say things in this country today are generally headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track?"

Generic congressional ballot

• "If an election for U.S. Congress were being held today, who would you vote for in the district where you live?"
• "Thinking about the elections in 2018, if the election for U.S. Congress were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate in the district where you live?"
• "What is your preference for the outcome of this November’s congressional elections—a Congress controlled by Republicans or a Congress controlled by Democrats?"

Understanding polling

Below we briefly highlight three aspects of public polling that illustrate both the complexity of polling and how polls tend to differ from one another. Understanding these concepts is key to interpreting what polls mean and underscores the value of aggregating polling results.

Contact method

Pollsters use a variety of different methods to contact potential survey participants. From the 1930s to the 1980s, pollsters generally did their work through direct contact: going door-to-door, a remarkably expensive and time-consuming method. Nowadays, pollsters rely upon telephones and the internet. Neither of these approaches comes without challenges. Fewer Americans today, for example, live in households with landlines than they did 20 or even 10 years ago. On the other hand, not every American—particularly in older generations—has a cell phone. To get around this, many pollsters call a combination of landlines and cellphones for a survey. An additional problem is that, with the rise of caller-ID, fewer people pick up the phone to participate in surveys—part of a systemic problem in the modern polling industry known as the response rate. Some pollsters have to looked to the internet as a workaround for this issue, but analysts continue to debate the accuracy and dependability of online polls.

A study by FiveThirtyEight found that variances in polls about President Trump's favorability stemmed primarily from the collection method. Polls of registered or likely voters tended to be more favorable to Trump than those that polled adults generally. Automated or online polls also resulted in more favorable rankings than those conducted with live phone calls. The data for these findings was taken from polls conducted between Feb. 1 and Feb. 19, 2017.

There are also differences among polling firms in who contacts the participants. Some phone-based surveys use live-interviewers, while others use automated interactive voice responders.

Contact methods of featured polls

Source	Contact method	FiveThirtyEight Grade*
CBS News	Live phone	N/A
The Economist / YouGov	Online	3 stars
Fox News	Live phone	N/A
Gallup	Live phone	2.5 stars
Pew Research	Live phone	2.5 stars
Quinnipiac University	Live phone	2.8 stars
Rasmussen Reports (Pres. Approval)	Automated phone + online	N/A
Rasmussen Reports (Direction of Country)	Automated phone	N/A
Reuters / Ipsos	Online	2.8 stars
USA Today / Suffolk University	Live phone	2.9 stars
The Wall Street Journal / NBC	Live phone	N/A
The Washington Post / ABC	Live phone	3 stars
Morning Consult	Online	1.9 stars
TIPP Insights	Phone	1.8 stars
Public Policy Polling	Phone + online	1.4 stars
The Marist Poll	Live phone	2.9 stars
Monmouth University	Live phone	2.9 stars
CNN	Live phone	2.8 stars
Harris Insights & Analytics	Online	1.5 stars
Emerson College	Phone	2.9 stars

*Last updated January 2025. FiveThirtyEight pollster ratings were calculated based on historical accuracy in predicting elections, sample sizes, methodology, etc. Find out more here.

The sample and margin of error

Pollsters can’t realistically contact every American adult throughout the country and ask their opinion on a given issue. Instead, they try to contact a representative sample—usually anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 individuals—that accurately represents the country’s population as a whole. Pollsters, with the help of statisticians, demographers, and data experts, use a variety of techniques to create a representative sample. This typically involves using probability formulas and algorithms to ensure random sampling and to increase the likelihood of contacting an accurate cross-section of the U.S. adult population. Some pollsters also create panels of respondents that they believe reflect the actual population and poll them repeatedly over a span of time. These polls are usually called tracking polls. Oftentimes, pollsters weigh their respondents to account for various demographic measurements. For example, a pollster might weigh more heavily the responses from a specific demographic group if that group was poorly represented in the random sample in relation to the country’s estimated demographic composition. The same might be done if a group appears to be overrepresented.

Samples are also where margins of error (MoE) come into play. The MoE describes the potential range of variation for a poll’s results in the context of its representative sample and the actual population. For example, if a poll with a margin of error of 3 percentage points showed that 47 percent of respondents approve of candidate X, that means the pollster believes, based on the representative sample in the poll, anywhere between 44 and 50 percent of the actual population approves of candidate X. Generally speaking, a larger sample size means a smaller MoE, while a smaller sample size means a larger MoE. Other factors, such as the poll’s design, probability formulas, and weighting methods, can also affect MoE.

Question framing

Though all polling firms, in general, are after the same goal—to find out what the public thinks about a given topic or issue—they don’t always ask their questions the same way. Studies have found that differences in how questions are worded—even subtle differences—can lead to a range of results. In 2003, for example, Pew Research found that when they asked respondents if they “favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein’s rule,” a total of 68 percent responded that they favor military action. But when Pew added to the end of that question, “... even if it meant that U.S. forces might suffer thousands of casualties,” 43 percent responded in favor of military action.

The number of possible answers that pollsters provide to respondents has also been known to produce different results. With questions about presidential approval and disapproval, for instance, some firms only give respondents the options of saying approve or disapprove. Other firms, however, give respondents more flexibility by allowing them to respond with answers such as “strongly approve” or “somewhat disapprove.” Again, these slight differences have historically led to differing results among polling firms.

Trust in sources

Public perception of the various sources cited here varies. Pew Research published a study on this topic in 2020, detailing how members of various idealogical groups (conservatives and liberals) trusted or distrusted popular media organizations. The results from this study for the news organizations included in Ballotpedia's polling data are listed below. By providing a variety of sources of polling results side-by-side, we hope to mitigate the influence of potential bias. All of the major news sources selected for Ballotpedia's polling index were rated as more trusted than distrusted in the overall results from all respondents.

Trust levels in polling sources by ideology

The following chart includes data found in a 2024 survey by YouGov. Full results are available here.

For questions on polls and methodology, email: editor@ballotpedia.org.

See also

Ballotpedia daily polling averages:

• Ballotpedia's Polling Indexes
• Presidential approval
• Congressional approval
• Direction of country
• Generic congressional vote
• Comparison of opinion polling under the Trump and Biden administrations
• Ballotpedia's Polling Index: Opinion polling during the Trump administration, 2017-2021
• Comparison of opinion polling during the second Trump and Biden administrations

More on Ballotpedia:

• About Ballotpedia
• The Tap
• The Daily Brew
• Joe Biden
• 117th United States Congress
• 118th United States Congress
• Special elections to the 117th United States Congress (2021-2022)
• Special elections to the 118th United States Congress (2023-2024)

Footnotes

Ballotpedia

About

Overview • What people are saying • Support Ballotpedia • Contact • Contribute • Job opportunities

---

Executive: Leslie Graves, Founder and CEO • Gwen Beattie, Chief Operating Officer

Communications: Alison Graves, Director of Communications • Carley Allensworth • Abigail Campbell • Frank Festa • Sarah Groat • Nathaniel Harwood • Dillon Redmond • Erica Shumaker
External Relations: Geoff Pallay, Director of External Relations • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Ashley Fleming • Thomas Mardik • Hannah Nelson
Operations: Meghann Olshefski, Director of Operations • Amanda Herbert • Mandy Morris • Caroline Presnell • Kelly Rindfleisch
Tech: Matt Latourelle, Director of Technology Operations • Ryan Burch • Kirsten Corrao • Beth Dellea • Travis Eden • Tate Kamish • Margaret Kearney • Eric Lotto • Joseph Sanchez • Mary Susmitha

Contributors: Scott Rasmussen

---

Editorial Content

Josh Altic, Director of Content • Daniel Anderson, Associate Director of Elections & Data • Cory Eucalitto, Associate Director of Features • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor of Ballot Measures • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor of News • Doug Kronaizl, Managing Editor of Local Expansion • Abbey Smith, Managing Editor of Elections • Janie Valentine, Managing Editor of Law • Joel Williams. Managing Editor of Events • Andrew Bahl • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Jon Dunn • Thomas Ellis • Nicole Fisher • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Brianna Hosea • Molly Kehoe • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Nathan Maxwell • Jimmy McAllister • Brandon McCauley • Ellie Mikus • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Annelise Reinwald • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Emma Soukup • Alexis Thacker • Mina Vogel • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox