After a full year of Joseph Biden’s Presidency, we can finally get a feel for how he’s done so far, what direction he’s headed in, and Americans’ opinion on such. Approval ratings are key for their financial and political support. They also can affect the midterm elections and re-elections when the time comes.

Nothing speaks louder than statistics, and during the first few months of a new President’s term, the statistics tend to go through a honeymoon phase, this is the case for Biden.  

During the first month of his term, Gallup–an American analytics and advisory company since 1935–recorded Biden’s approval rating as 57% approving of his work, and 37% disapproving. The remainder had no strong feelings either way.

A year later, his ratings fell. As of January, Biden’s approval ratings went down by 17%, and his disapproval ratings went up by 19%. Once again, the remainder had no strong feelings.

So why have his approval ratings taken a turn for the worse? 

Biden faced a multitude of issues and problems when he entered office, as do many Presidents. He is handling issues such as foreign policy, racial tension, criminal justice, law enforcement issues, the pandemic, border issues, and the economy. 

America does not seem to be very receptive to how he’s handled most issues. Recently in August, Biden pulled troops from Afghanistan at the 20 year anniversary of 9/11. We had mixed feelings about it. Pew Research reported that 54% of Americans disagreed with his decision, while 46% agreed. 

Jobs and the economy have also been a key issue, as they are still feeling the effects of Covid-19. This is a platform he used during his campaign. 

America has grown extremely unhappy with how he’s dealt with the pandemic, seeing as Covid-19 is an ongoing problem. Last year 65% of citizens said that he was doing a great job at handling the pandemic.

Currently, for Biden, those numbers have changed for the worse. The number dipped down to a whopping 44%, which means 55% of all Americans disapprove of his job at handling Covid-19. 

Once again the slight majority of Americans have disapproved of his economic decisions. In March of last year, 56% of Americans said that Biden was handling the economy well, and as of January, Gallup reported that those numbers have gone down to 44%. 

Immigration has recently been a very heated subject ever since the “build a wall” goals of 2016. Back in March of last year, 53% of Americans approved his immigration and border control decisions, but now that number has sunk down to only 40%.