Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Presidential Approval Tracker (12/02/2020)

Washington, DC, December 2, 2020 –   Following the Thanksgiving holiday, the latest Reuters/Ipsos Core Political shows a majority of Americans continue to say that the country is headed off on the wrong track. When considering the biggest issues facing the nation, Americans are split between the economy and jobs, healthcare, and other issues. President Donald Trump’s overall approval rating remains stable but low. When asked how he is handling the transition between his administration and the incoming Biden administration, most Americans overwhelmingly disapprove. A majority of Americans say they approve of how President-elect Joe Biden is handling his new position.

Just 23% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, unchanged from last week. Sixty-three percent say the country is off on the wrong track.

• Seventy-three percent of Democratic registered voters and 51% of Republican registered voters say the country is headed off on the wrong track.

Americans remain concerned about a variety of issues, with no single problem standing out as the most important issue for a majority of people.

• Americans say the economy and jobs (28%), healthcare (21%), and other volunteered issues (17%), like coronavirus, are the biggest problems facing the nation.
• Democratic registered voters are most likely to say healthcare (30%) is the biggest problem, followed by 24% who say the economy and jobs are the biggest problems. Twenty percent volunteer other issues, like coronavirus, as the most important problem.
• Republican registered voters are most likely to say the economy and jobs are the biggest problems (30%), followed by other issues (16%), where coronavirus and partisan politics are frequently volunteered. Fifteen percent of Republican registered voters say healthcare is the biggest issue.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans approve of how Joe Biden is handling his job as president-elect.

• Democratic registered voters approve overwhelmingly of how he is handling the position (93%), while just one in five Republican registered voters approve (22%).

Just 38% of Americans approve of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president.

• Republican registered voters’ perceptions of Trump have dipped slightly from their pre-election notions, with 78% approving this week, down from 87% just before the election.
• Just 28% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the transition process between his administration and the incoming Biden administration. Thirty-six percent approve of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, mirroring his overall approval rating.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between November 30-December 1, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,118 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 958 registered voters, 488 Democratic registered voters, 350 Republican registered voters, and 91 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 ± 3.3 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 ± 3.6 percentage points for all registered voters, ± 5.1 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 6.0 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 11.7 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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