Some Americans’ trust in President Joe Biden has taken a hit in recent months as many believe that a “return to normal” from the COVID-19 pandemic is not around the corner.
According to a new poll from Axios-Ipsos, 39% of Americans think it will take more than a year from now to return to normal life, compared to just 9% of people who thought that in June.
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This trend is in conjunction with a drop in the public’s trust in Biden’s handling of the pandemic. According to the same poll, 42% of Americans trust Biden a great deal or a fair amount to provide them with accurate COVID information, a 10-percentage point drop from April, and a 16-percentage point drop from Biden’s first day in office as president.
“To the extent that he had any kind of warm feelings or optimism in relation to his presidency or benefit of the doubt, perhaps, that people might have been wanting to give to him, that’s gone now,” said David Barker, the director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University.
While it’s true that one poll could be an outlier, an average of polls of Americans’ views on Biden’s handling of the pandemic paint a similar picture.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average, which Biden’s overall approval on his handling of the pandemic has dropped from 62.7% in June to 49.6% now.
Biden has routinely pushed for more Americans to take a COVID vaccine from makers like Pfizer
PFE,
-1.51%
and BioNTech, Moderna
MRNA,
+3.90%,
or Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
+0.60%.
As of October 13, 76.6% of all Americans age 12 and over have received at least one COVID shot, according to the CDC’s vaccine tracker.
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The president received a COVID booster shot last month, but told reporters just before he got the shot “boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated.”
