Skip to content
Navigating a New Political Landscape: View real-time updates about the impact of and Northeastern’s response to recent political changes.
Apply
Stories

Biden outpaces Trump by double digits in handling the pandemic, new survey shows

People in this story

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington.

President Joe Biden’s handling of the pandemic in the early months of his term received higher marks from U.S. residents than former President Donald Trump earned in his final days in office, according to a new study by researchers from Northeastern, Harvard, Northwestern, and Rutgers. Meanwhile, governors’ pandemic approval ratings have declined slightly, according to the study.

Biden’s coronavirus management approval rating stood at 53 percent in a poll taken about two months after he moved into the Oval Office. That figure exceeds Trump’s support in December, his last full month in the White House, in 44 states. Trump bested Biden in the other six states, all of them Republican-leaning. They include Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming.

Trump’s support slipped to 32 percent in December from 35 percent in October.

The higher numbers for Biden weren’t entirely surprising given Trump’s historically low COVID-19 approvals, explains David Lazer, university distinguished professor of political science and computer and information sciences at Northeastern, and one of the researchers who conducted the study.

Another reason for Biden’s larger support in the early going could be the goodwill afforded a new president, Lazer adds.

“He’s still in his honeymoon period,” he says.

Continue reading at News@Northeastern.

More Stories

Elon Musk speaking

Elon Musk is creating a new political party. Can a third party ever win a US presidential election?

07.10.2025
Jay Logsdon, center, an attorney representing Bryan Kohberger, second from left, speaks during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)

The Bryan Kohberger plea deal without the victims’ families’ consultation is normal, says Northeastern expert

07.03.2025
Cover of Gretchen Heefner's book, Sand, Snow, and Stardust

From the ice caps to the moon: Northeastern professor charts military’s environmental adaptation

07.11.25
All Stories