Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Presidential Approval Tracker (12/23/2020)

Washington, DC, December 23, 2020 –   As 2020 comes to a close, the most recent Reuters/Ipsos Core Political finds Americans continue to be concerned about the direction of the country. The economy and jobs, healthcare, and issues like coronavirus, continue to be top concerns for many. President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains resilient, with continued support among his Republican base. Joe Biden receives approval from a majority of Americans on how he is handling his position as president-elect.

Twenty-two percent of Americans say that the country is heading in the right direction, while 62% say the country is off on the wrong track.  

• Independent registered voters and Democratic registered voters are the most pessimistic, with seven in ten reporting the country is heading off on the wrong track (72% and 70%, respectively). A majority of Republican registered voters say the same thing (54%).

The economy and jobs (30%), healthcare (18%), and other issues (18%), like coronavirus, continue to be seen as the most important problems facing the country.

• Democratic registered voters say the economy and jobs (28%), healthcare (24%), and other issues (21%) are the main problems facing the country.
• Republican registered voters also see the economy and jobs (31%) as the biggest problems and 20% cite other issues, like the coronavirus, as the main problem. Just 14% of Republican registered voters say healthcare is the most important problem.

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

• Biden receives strong support among members of his own party, with 91% of Democratic registered voters approving. In contrast, just 19% of Republican registered voters approve.

Forty percent of Americans approve of how Donald Trump is handling his position as president

• Trump continues to enjoy strong support among his Republican base, with 81% approving. Just 8% of Democratic registered voters approve.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between December 18-22, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,368 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 1,126 registered voters, 559 Democratic registered voters, 407 Republican registered voters, and 113 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, ± 4.7 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 5.5 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 10.5 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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