Plurality of Americans Believe Biden is Dividing the Country, Rather Than Uniting It, Poll Finds

A plurality of Americans believe President Biden is doing more to divide the country than to unite it, according to the results of a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.

Forty-nine percent said Biden is doing more to divide the country, while 42 percent said he’s doing more to unite the country, the poll found. The results are an indication that President Biden has so far failed in his mission to unify the country, though he repeatedly vowed to bring Americans together on the campaign trail.

The poll painted a grim outlook among Americans, as a majority of respondents —58 percent — believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse. Seventy-six percent believe political instability within the U.S. is a greater danger to the country, while just 19 percent said other countries that are adversaries of the U.S. are the bigger danger. The poll was conducted January 7-10, immediately after the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot, which Congressional Democrats and Biden himself commemorated with a series of events and speeches about the importance of unity. 

More than half of Americans — 53 percent — believe another attack similar to the January 6 Capitol riot is very likely or somewhat likely to happen. Another 43 percent think it is not so likely or not likely at all.

Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating continues to drop. The poll showed the president with a 33 percent approval rating. Fifty-three percent of respondents disapprove of the job he is doing, while 13 percent did not offer an opinion. The results are slightly worse for Biden than a November 2021 Quinnipiac poll which gave Biden a 36 percent approval rating and a 53 percent disapproval rating.

Biden’s approval ratings fell by 12 points among Democrats: the most recent poll showed 75 percent of Democrats approved of the president, while the November poll revealed an 87 percent approval rating.

Respondents gave Biden poor marks on the economy (34 percent approval, 57 percent disapproval), foreign policy (35 percent approval, 54 percent disapproval) and response to the pandemic (39 percent approval, 55 percent disapproval.)

Biden’s image has taken a series of hits recently: a failure to shepherd his landmark Build Back Better plan through Congress, inflation that has increased at the fastest rate in 40 years over the last 12 months, and a surge in the highly-transmissible omicron variant that has left Americans desperately scrambling to find Covid-19 tests with little luck.

With the 2022 midterms eleven months away, respondents gave both Republicans and Democrats in Congress a negative approval rating, according to the poll. Sixty-two percent disapprove of the job Republican Congress members have done, while 56 said the same of Democrats.

No clear favorite emerged between the parties for the upcoming Congressional midterm elections. Forty-three percent said they would want to see the Republican Party control the House of Representatives, 42 percent said they would like to see Democratic control continue and 16 percent did not offer an opinion, the survey showed.

Meanwhile, Republicans had a slight advantage in the Senate. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would want to see the GOP take control of the Senate, while 41 percent said they hope the Democrats control the upper chamber and 14 percent did not offer an opinion.

The results are based on a survey of 1,313 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.