Biden approval rating rises slightly in wake of State of the Union address

President Biden’s approval rating is seeing a slight uptick since he gave his first State of the Union address last week, according to a new poll.

The Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday finds that 45 percent of respondents approved of the job Biden is doing as president while 51 percent say they disapprove. 

The results are an improvement from where his ratings sat before the address. A Politico-Morning Consult poll released in mid-February found his approval rating at 43 percent while 53 percent of respondents disapproved. 

“It’s not unusual for presidents to see their numbers improve immediately following a major address like a State of the Union, or for the so-called ‘rally around the flag’ effect to provide a similar boost when the country is facing a security threat,” Morning Consult Senior Politics Editor Cameron Easley told Politico Playbook. 

Easley added that while it is “plausible” that the survey could signal a trend upward in Biden’s approval ratings, “it’s also true that most of these boosts are short-lived … so it’s too early to say if this represents some kind of turning point in Biden’s political fortunes.”

Another poll released last week showed the president receiving a higher approval rating — 47 percent — following his first address to the nation, compared to 39 percent in February.

The latest polls are likely to be welcomed by the White House, given that Biden has suffered lower approval ratings over the last few months.

The president has juggled a handful of domestic and foreign policy issues since taking office, including the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, infighting among members of his party to pass Democratic priorities, inflation and supply chain issues, the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But Russia’s invasion has quickly rallied together members of both parties in a short period of time, in what has been an increasingly partisan climate within the United States. 

Lawmakers held a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, with members pledging afterward that they would do what they could to pass aid, send in warplanes and curb Russian oil imports.

The House is already joining Senate efforts to work on its own bill that would ban oil imports from Russia, among other actions.

The latest Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted between March 4 and 6 with a sample size of 2,005 registered voters. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.