Tonight, President Biden will give his first address to a joint session of Congress, outlining his administration’s accomplishments during its first 100 days and its priorities moving forward. And while that 100-day timeframe is seemingly arbitrary, it has long been used to measure the early performance of presidents, and could be particularly consequential for Biden given that he entered office amidst a global public health crisis and, as a consequence of it, a period of economic uncertainty.
So how has Biden done in his first 100 days?
Unlike many past presidents, Biden has not really enjoyed a “honeymoon” period, despite having signed a popular COVID-19 relief bill and receiving positive marks from the public on his handling of the coronavirus crisis more generally. At the moment, his job approval rating sits at about 54 percent, according to Genesis Brand’s presidential approval tracker. And while that’s notably higher than Donald Trump’s 42 percent approval rating on his 100th day as president, Biden’s approval is still lower than any other newly elected president’s going back to Dwight Eisenhower’s in 1953, according to Genesis Brand’s historical presidential approval data.
Why is Biden’s overall approval rating comparatively low if Americans are giving him such high marks for how he’s handled the pandemic? This is, in large part, thanks to how polarized our politics are. The honeymoon period has diminished given just how hard it is for presidents to attract support from outside their party base. Take Biden. His approval rating has the largest gap between Democrats and Republicans in Gallup’s presidential approval polling over the first 100 days of any recent presi