Majority of Americans want congressional Republicans to work with Biden: poll

A majority of Americans say they want congressional Republicans to find ways to work with President Biden rather than serve as a check on him, according to a new poll from Monmouth University released Wednesday.

Seventy-one percent of adults surveyed said they want the GOP to work with the new president, up from 62 percent in November. Meanwhile, 25 percent said it was important to “keep Biden in check,” down from 34 percent two months ago.

A rise in support for cooperation is found across all parties. Forty-one percent of Republicans want to see more cooperation, up from 28 percent in November, while support for cooperation rose from 68 percent to 70 percent among independents and from 92 percent to 94 percent among Democrats.

About 60 percent of respondents said they have at least some confidence that Biden will be able to foster more cooperation in Washington, though only 21 percent said they are “very confident.”

“Bipartisanship is certainly an aspiration for the Biden era, but public optimism about achieving it is a bit muted,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Those surveyed said they want the White House and Congress to tackle an array of issues. Eighty-eight percent of adults polled said tackling jobs and unemployment is “extremely” or “very” important, while 84 percent said the same of education, 83 percent said the same of domestic terrorism and 81 percent said the same of tackling the coronavirus and addressing health care.

Biden appears to have more support heading into possible negotiations with Capitol Hill, with 54 percent of those surveyed saying they approve of the job he’s doing so far, compared with just 35 percent who approve of the job Congress is doing.

The two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have already butted heads since Biden’s inauguration, chiefly over the president’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The president and congressional Democrats have pushed for swift passage of the legislation, but Republicans across the party spectrum have expressed hesitation about such a massive proposal after Washington passed a nearly $1 trillion relief measure late last year.

The Monmouth University Poll survey questioned 809 adults from Jan. 21-24 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.