Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Presidential Approval Tracker (01/14/2021)

Washington, DC, January 14, 2021 –   Following the events at the Capitol last week, the most recent Reuters/Ipsos Core Political finds more Americans concerned about the direction of the country. The economy and jobs, along with healthcare, continue to be the most concerning issues facing Americans today. President Donald Trump’s approval rating is down to 34%, with support waning among his Republican base. Meanwhile, Joe Biden continues to receive approval from a majority of Americans on how he is handling his position as president-elect leading into his inauguration next week.

Only 15% percent of Americans say that the country is heading in the right direction, down six percentage points from mid-December (21%), while the large majority (72%) say the country is off on the wrong track.  

• Democratic and independent registered voters continue to be the most pessimistic, with nearly eight in ten reporting the country is heading off on the wrong track (76% for both). This week Republican registered voters are not far behind with 71% saying the same, down six percentage points from last week.

The economy and jobs (30%), healthcare (15%), and other issues (21%), like coronavirus and political division, continue to be seen as the most important problems facing the country.

• Democratic registered voters say the economy and jobs (28%), healthcare (19%), and other issues (23%) are the main problems facing the country.
• Republican registered voters also see the economy and jobs (34%) as the biggest problems and 21% cite other issues, like the coronavirus and political division, as the main problem. Only 9% of Republican registered voters say healthcare is the most important problem, with morality more frequently cited than it (13%) .

Just over half of Americans approve of how Joe Biden is handling his position as president-elect (53%). 

• Biden receives strong support among members of his own party, with 91% of Democratic registered voters approving. In contrast, only 22% of Republican registered voters approve.

Thirty-four percent of Americans approve of how Donald Trump is handling his position as president, a seven percentage point drop from mid-December (41%).

• Trump’s support among his Republican base remains strong but has decreased since last week with 70% approving, compared to 77% the week before. Only 6% of Democratic registered voters approve.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 8-12, 2021 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,399 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 1,163 registered voters, 528 Democratic registered voters, 447 Republican registered voters, and 131 independent registered voters. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 3.3 percentage points for all registered voters, ± 4.9 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 5.3 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 9.8 percentage points for independent registered voters.  

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Kate Silverstein
Media Relations, US
Public Affairs
+1 718 755-8829
[email protected]

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