Ahead of the State of the Union, Voters Support Biden’s Agenda and Accomplishments Despite Low Awareness
With the general election still eight months away, this week’s State of the Union address will mark one of Joe Biden’s first and best chances to lay out his plans for a second presidential term to the nation and remind voters of what he has accomplished with his first.
Data for Progress fielded a national survey from March 1-2, 2024, to evaluate how voters perceive Biden’s agenda and policy achievements after his first three years as president.
Biden Holds an Advantage on Climate, LGBTQ+ Issues, and Race Relations; Trump Has an Edge on Immigration, Inflation, and the Economy
Ahead of the State of the Union, this polling finds that a plurality of voters (25%) say the economy, jobs, and inflation are the issues they consider the most when deciding whom to vote for, followed by immigration (18%), threats to democracy (9%), and programs like Social Security and Medicare (7%) — read more about our new way to ask voters about issue importance here.
When asked whom they trust more on this list of policy issues, voters give Biden his strongest trust advantage on climate change, LGBTQ+ issues, and race relations. Biden holds a smaller advantage, within the margin of error, on health care, abortion, Social Security and Medicare, and education.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has a significant advantage on immigration, inflation, taxes and government spending, jobs and the economy, national security and foreign policy, and crime and public safety. He holds a smaller advantage, within the margin of error, on gun policy and threats to democracy.
Voters Still Aren’t Sure What Biden Has Accomplished as President
Throughout Biden’s first term, the United States has seen a decrease in the unemployment rate, a rise in real wages for most workers, and a drop in the violent crime rate. Biden, along with Democrats in Congress, has also passed historic investments in infrastructure and health care, along with measures to reduce prescription drug costs and increase access to abortion in the wake of Dobbs. And while inflation peaked in June 2022, it has decreased steadily since then.
However, the survey finds that not even a plurality of voters credit Biden for any of these accomplishments in his first term.
Democrats and Independents are more likely to say that they “don’t know” whether Biden has accomplished any of these items, with Republicans indicating higher degrees of certainty. Additionally, there are still significant numbers of Democrats who are not sure or do not think that Biden has accomplished these policies — for example, only 69% of Democrats say that Biden has reduced the unemployment rate and only 65% say he has increased investments in infrastructure.
The IRA Remains Popular With Voters Across Party Lines
Additionally, the poll finds that Biden’s marquee accomplishment of his first term — the Inflation Reduction Act — remains popular with a large majority of voters. Seventy-one percent of voters, including 88% of Democrats, 68% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans, support the bill after reading a brief description of its components.
Biden’s Policies Are Popular — but Voters Are Still Not Hearing Enough About Them
In September, our polling with the Progressive Campaign Change Committee found significant gaps between the popularity and awareness of Biden’s progressive economic agenda. In new polling, we find that these numbers have remained mostly unchanged from September, with slightly more voters having heard of Biden’s canceling of student loan debt.
The polling finds significant gaps between the popularity of key progressive economic policies and how many voters have heard “a lot” from Biden on those issues. The largest gaps are on the issues of protecting Social Security, protecting veterans’ benefits, reducing the deficit, preventing corporations from charging junk fees, protecting Medicare funding, and lowering prescription drug costs.
Voters Support Policies That Could Be Part of a Second Biden Term
While Biden has not yet released a public policy agenda for a second term, the survey asked voters about their support for several Biden 2020 campaign pledges that were not accomplished as part of his first term.
Voters express strong support across party lines for these proposals, with the highest support for expanding Medicare to include hearing aid coverage, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for more drugs, requiring employers to provide seven days of paid sick leave, and taxing billionaires to increase Social Security benefits.
Conclusion
Biden is starting his campaign with a significant disadvantage on several issues that are important to voters — including inflation, jobs and the economy, immigration, and crime and public safety. However, our polling also finds that many voters, including a significant number of Democrats, are still not aware of what Biden has accomplished and have not heard about popular policies that Biden would pass if elected to a second term. This week’s State of the Union offers a key opportunity to make up ground in these important areas.
Survey Methodology
From March 1 to 2, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,221 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.