Nearly half of likely voters think Biden has made US 'worse' as optimism for future declines: poll
Almost half of likely voters in the United States believe that President Joe Biden has made the country worse since taking office in January 2021, and only about a third believe he has made it better, according to the findings of a recent poll.
Rasmussen Reports released the results of the poll on Tuesday, a survey of 900 likely voters conducted on Dec. 14-15 and Dec. 18. The poll had a sampling error margin of +/- 3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Respondents were asked: "Generally speaking, has President Joe Biden made America better or worse as a nation? Or has Biden's presidency not made much difference?"
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The poll suggests that 47% of likely voters believe Biden has made the country worse, 34% think he's made it better, and 17% believe he has made little to no difference either way.
The survey also asked respondents: "When you think about our nation in the context of history, are America's best days in the future or in the past?"
The poll found that 38% of respondents believe that America's best days are ahead, down from the 47% who said the same when Rasmussen asked the question in November 2020.
Rasmussen also reported an increase in the share of respondents who believe that the U.S.' best days are in the past, with 42% recently polled saying they agreed, versus 33% in 2020.
As expected, Rasmussen found a political divide in responses as to whether Biden has made things better. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats say Biden has generally made America better, while 70% of Republicans said Biden has made America worse. Forty-two percent of unaffiliated voters felt Biden made the country worse, compared to 31% who said he has made the country better.
There was also a political divide over the country's direction, as 52% of Democrats said they felt America's best days are in the future, with only 30% of Republicans and 31% of unaffiliated voters agreeing.
In March, Deseret News released the findings of a Marist College Poll, which found that 72% of Americans believe that the nation's moral compass is moving in the wrong direction.
The Marist poll findings show that this sentiment was shared by diverse groups of respondents, including 74% of Christians, 69% of the religiously unaffiliated, 51% of Democrats, 90% of Republicans and 77% of independents.
Last year, The Trafalgar Group released a survey report finding that 52.8% of Americans were pessimistic about the future of the U.S. In comparison, around 43% held an optimistic view of the nation's future.
"Americans are optimistic people. When both Republicans and Independents are tracking almost identically in registering a lack of optimism about our future — and a sizable group of Democrats feel the same way — there is a serious problem," said Convention of States Action President Mark Meckler in response to the Trafalgar poll.
"From Afghanistan to COVID-19 to inflation to foreign policy to basic things like education, Washington DC is failing to solve challenges, and the people are losing hope."
