A new Gallup poll shows most Americans think the U.S. fell behind on key issues like education, race relations, energy, infrastructure and immigration during President Joe Biden’s four years in office, and a majority of those surveyed felt the country was stagnant in two areas and made progress in only one: LGBTQ issues.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on Jan. 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The new data, released by Gallup Tuesday morning, asked more than 500 adults in all 50 states if they felt the U.S. made progress, stood still or lost ground on 18 big issues since Biden took office in 2021.
The majority of respondents felt the nation fell behind in almost every category, with more than 50% of respondents reporting the country "lost ground" in the categories of federal debt, immigration, the wealth gap, the economy, the U.S.' position in the world and crime.
More people also answered "lost ground" than "stood still" or "made progress" when it came to taxes, education, terrorism, trade relations, national defense, healthcare, race relations, infrastructure and energy.
More Americans believe the country has stood still on two issues—climate change (44%) and Black issues (40%)—rather than making progress or losing ground.
Respondents reported feeling the nation made progress in only one area, LGBTQ issues, where 39% of people thought progress was made compared to 31% who felt the nation stayed stagnant and 23% who said progress was lost.
Democrats, including left-leaning independents, were much more likely to have net-positive views of progress made during the Biden administration, though even respondents in his own party felt the nation lost ground on the federal debt and the wealth gap under Biden's administration, and stood still on taxes and immigration.
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Compared to Gallup polls on the Americans' feelings at the end of other administrations, Biden's progress lags Donald Trump’s, Barack Obama’s and George W. Bush’s (his three immediate predecessors) significantly on national defense, immigration and taxes. He is also seen as performing worse than Obama and Trump in the areas of federal debt, the wealth gap and trade relations. Biden didn't outperform all three predecessors in any issue, but was seen as performing better than Trump (but worse than Obama) on LGBTQ issues and the same as Trump and Obama on Black issues.
The Gallup poll is the latest in a string of rough poll results for the outgoing Biden administration. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released last week showed only one-quarter of U.S. adults consider Biden a "good" or "great" president, a worse view than they had at the end of Trump’s first term or Obama’s second. A different Gallup poll from last week showed 54% of U.S. adults think Biden will be remembered as a "below average president,” rating most similarly to President Richard Nixon after he resigned during the Watergate scandal.
The same Gallup analysis found that other presidents who left with poor ratings—including Trump, Bush and Democrat Jimmy Carter—saw views of their presidencies get better with time.
Biden’s term will come to an end next Monday, when Trump is sworn in as president for the second time. Biden dropped out of the race for reelection in July under pressure from party leaders amid mounting concerns about his age, and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Haris at the top of the ticket. Harris lost to Trump by a popular vote of 75 million to 77.3 million, and Biden recently remained adamant that he “would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump” if he’d stayed in the race. The president has struggled with polling since shortly after he was sworn into office, due in large part to a negative perception of the economy and rising inflation. He almost never surpassed 55% approval, and had negative approval ratings from September 2021 until the end of his term, according to a FiveThirtyEight average. Biden's campaign website touts his major accomplishments as passing a bipartisan infrastructure package and a Covid-19 rescue bill, signing the Inflation Reduction Act, confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female Supreme Court justice and pardoning all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, among others. When it comes to LGBTQ issues, the Human Rights Campaign notes he signed the Respect of Marriage Act that required the state and federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, reversed the ban on transgender military service instituted under Trump and appointed Rachel Levine as assistant health secretary, making her the first-ever openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate.