President Joe Biden is facing such struggles that even ABC's Kendall Karson foretells of "warning signs" from their poll released on Sunday, conducted March 26 and March 27 with 517 adults. This is especially the case when it comes to "areas of his agenda where external events have imposed new urgency," including when it comes to gun control and unaccompanied minors.
Fifty-seven percent of adults disapprove of Biden's handling of "the situation with migrants and unaccompanied children showing up at the US-Mexican border," as well as when it comes to "gun violence."
No matter how hard the administration may wish to distract us when it comes to calling the border crisis what it is, the American people know better. It's not merely a matter of "Republicans... seizing on the flow of migrants... as a 'crisis,'" as Karson describes it. Fifty-four percent of adults responded it is "currently a crisis" while 42 percent responded it is "a serious problem but not a crisis."
President Biden especially can't win when it comes to gun control. Karson notes that, with added emphasis, "Biden's handling of gun violence draws disapproval from 86% of Republicans, 56% of independents and 37% of Democrats -- the highest dissatisfaction among members of his own party of the issues asked about in the survey. The disapproval from both sides is likely seen by Republicans as pursuing too many gun restrictions and by some Democrats as not acting quickly enough."
For how much of a "unity" president he's claimed to be, Biden also scores unimpressively in how a plurality of respondents, at 40 percent, say he is "making the country... neither more united nor more divided." As Karson wrote, "Biden has repeatedly underlined a desire to unify the country after four years with a divisive Trump at the helm, but so far, he's made little headway."
The president scores high when it comes to the 72 percent approval rating of how he's handled the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, 75 percent approval of his handling the distribution of vaccines, and 60 percent when it comes to the economy.
When it comes to Republican support, Karson finds it "notabl[e]" that in these polarized times, a majority of Republicans (53%) also approve of Biden's handling of vaccine distribution. Fewer than half, however, view his overall response to the pandemic (44%) and his leadership on the economy (23%) positively."
What's also notable is that Republicans make up for only 26 percent of poll respondents, compared to 31percent of Democrats, and 36 percent of Independents.
President Biden might want to think twice before claiming Republican support. During his Thursday press conference--the first in his 64 days in office--he claimed that he has "electoral support from Republican voters" and that "Republican voters agree with what I’m doing." He also made the incredulous claim that "I have no idea whether there’ll be Republican party."
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