Most Americans approve of Biden’s handling of coronavirus, disapprove on immigration: poll

Most Americans expressed approval for President Biden and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the president faces majority disapproval on his immigration response, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

An NPR-Marist poll found wide support for Biden’s coronavirus response so far, with 65 percent of respondents expressing approval. This includes almost one-third of Republicans at 31 percent, as well as 94 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents.

A slight majority also reported approval for the president’s overall performance at 52 percent, with 91 percent approval from Democrats. Less than half of independents and Republicans expressed support overall, at 48 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

On immigration, Biden faces more critics, as 54 percent of respondents expressed disapproval for his handling of the issue, including almost a quarter of Democrats. A large majority of Republicans at 89 percent as well as a slight majority of independents at 53 percent said they disagreed with Biden’s management of immigration. 

The poll comes as the U.S. faces a surge of thousands of migrants at its southern border, especially unaccompanied minors, who are not being turned away. CNN reported the number of migrant children in U.S. custody reached a new high on Sunday of 5,767 children since the government began releasing data last week. 

Republicans have labeled the influx of migrants as a “crisis,” saying Biden’s rescission of former President Trump’s immigration restrictions led to the surge. But Biden, who has appointed Vice President Harris to manage the border situation, has pointed fingers at the Trump administration, saying it handed off a broken immigration system.

Support for his coronavirus response comes as the U.S. surpassed 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses earlier this month. Last week, the president set a new goal of reaching 200 million doses in that timeframe.

Congress also passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which included direct payments.  

The NPR-Marist poll surveyed 1,309 U.S. adults from March 22 to 25. The margin of error amounted to 3.4 percentage points.