AP-NORC Poll: Biden, Trump criticized for different reasons
There's a reason why President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are spending so much time attacking each other — people don't think either man has much to brag about when it comes to his own record. Americans generally think that while they were in the White House, both did more harm than good on key issues.
But the two candidates have different weak spots. For Biden, it's widespread unhappiness on two issues: the economy and immigration. Trump, meanwhile, faces an electorate where substantial shares think he harmed the country on a range of issues.
A new poll from the APNORC Centre for Public Affairs Research finds that more than half of US adults think Biden's presidency has hurt the country on cost of living and immigration, while nearly half think Trump's presidency hurt the country on voting rights and election security, relations with foreign countries, abortion laws and climate change.
“Considering the price of gas, the price of groceries, the economy — I did very well during those four years,” Christina Elliott, 60, a Republican from Texas, said of the
Trump presidency. “I didn't have to worry about filling up my tank or losing half of my paycheck to the grocery store.”
Elliott wasn't too keen on Trump's handling of abortion and said that when it comes to the former president's rhetoric, “He just needs to learn how to be tactful and shut his mouth.”
“But other than that, like I said, I did very well during the Trump years,” she added.
The polling underscores why certain issues — such as abortion for Biden and immigration for Trump — have been persistent focal points for each of the campaigns. The former president regularly decries the number of asylum-seekers who have arrived in the US under Biden, describing the situation in apocalyptic and dark terms. And Biden has gone on the offensive against Trump on abortion, especially after this week's ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court that essentially criminalised the procedure in the state.
When asked which president did more to help people like them, roughly one-third say Donald Trump and about one-quarter say Joe Biden. Yet 30 per cent of adults said neither Biden nor Trump benefitted them.