When President Biden addresses the Democratic convention, it will be with the rank and file in his party feeling mostly upbeat about his presidency.
Democrats nationwide are actually feeling more positively about Mr. Biden’s presidency now than they were in March, when he was still running for reelection. Three in four describe his presidency as “excellent” or “good.”
But these positive assessments do not extend much beyond the Democratic Party: Voters overall, including most independents and an overwhelming number of Republicans, view his presidency more negatively — either as “fair” or “poor.”
What does this mean for Harris?
There is some connection between opinions of the Biden presidency and backing for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Perhaps not surprisingly, likely voters who view Mr. Biden’s presidency as “excellent” or “good” are almost universally voting for Harris.
And those who feel President Biden has been doing a “poor” job are backing former President Donald Trump in large numbers.
But what about the voters who are not entirely pleased with the Biden presidency so far, but don’t feel extremely negative about it either – those who rate his presidency as “fair”?
Voters who feel this way are mostly made up of independents and disaffected Democrats, and Harris is getting the backing of a majority of them.
So even though these voters may not be feeling especially positive about Biden’s presidency, most of them are behind Harris over Trump right now.
This analysis is from a CBS News/YouGov survey conducted with a representative sample of 3,258 registered voters nationwide interviewed between August 14-16, 2024. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as past vote. Respondents were selected to be representative of registered voters nationwide. The margin of error for registered voters is ±2.1 points.
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