About six-in-ten Americans say they approve of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president, while 39% say they disapprove. Biden’s overall approval ratings have ticked up since March, when 54% of the public said they approved of his job performance.

Majorities of most demographic groups approve of Biden’s job performance, with the exception of White Americans, who are roughly as likely to disapprove (51%) of Biden’s performance as to approve (48%). By comparison, nearly nine-in-ten Black Americans (89%) approve of Biden’s performance, as do 74% of Hispanic Americans and 72% of Asian Americans.

Women continue to view Biden’s performance more positively than men (62% vs. 56% approve, respectively), while Biden is seen more positively among college graduates – particularly those with postgraduate degrees – than among those with some college or less education. Adults under 50 are somewhat more approving of Biden’s job performance than those 50 and older.

Only about a quarter of Americans say they don’t like how Biden conducts himself as president

As Biden approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency, relatively few Americans express negative views of the way he conducts himself as president. However, fewer than half say they agree with him on all, nearly all, or many of the important issues facing the country.

There are wide partisan and demographic differences in views of Biden’s conduct as president and in agreement with him on key issues. About three quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (76%) say they like how Biden conducts himself in office, while 23% say they have mixed feelings. A smaller majority of Republicans and Republican leaners (59%) say they do not like Biden’s conduct as president; 30% say they have mixed feelings about his conduct, and 10% say they like how he is conducting himself.

Black adults stand out for their positive views of Biden’s conduct as president: 76% say they like the way Biden is conducting himself as president, compared with 49% of Hispanic adults and 38% of White adults.

There also are sizable educational and age differences in views of Biden’s conduct as president. Adults with at least a four-year college degree are more likely than those with less formal education to say they like Biden’s conduct as president. Older people express more positive – and negative – views of Biden’s conduct than do younger people; younger adults are more likely to say they have mixed feelings.

Just over half of the public says they agree with Biden on few (25%) or none of the important issues facing the country (29%). Another 44% say they agree with Biden on many (31%) or nearly all issues (13%).

Biden draws the greatest agreement on issues from the same groups that have the most positive views of his conduct – Democrats, Black adults and people with at least a four-year college degree.

About eight-in-ten Democrats (77%) say they are in agreement with Biden on all (or nearly all) or many of the major issues facing the country. Still, only about a quarter of Democrats (24%) say they agree with Biden on “all or nearly all issues.”

Republicans are far more uniform in their disagreement with Biden on issues. About six-in-ten Republicans (63%) say they agree with Biden on “no or almost no issues” – more than double the share of Democrats who agree with him on all or virtually all issues. Another 30% of Republicans agree with Biden on a few issues.

Two-thirds of Black adults say they agree with Biden on many or nearly all issues, compared with 53% of Hispanic adults and 37% of White adults.

Adults with more formal education are also more likely to say they agree with Biden on most issues. A majority of adults with at least a college degree say they agree with Biden on most or nearly all issues, compared with 39% of those with some college experience or less education.

Democrats’ views of Biden’s conduct and agreement with him on major issues

At this point in his presidency, there are only modest ideological differences among Democrats in views of Biden. Large shares of both liberal Democrats (79%) and moderate and conservative Democrats (73%) like the way he conducts himself as president. And sizable majorities of both agree with Biden on all (or nearly all) or many major issues (81% of liberal Democrats, 75% of conservative and moderate Democrats).

However, there are demographic differences among Democrats in views of the president. Younger Democrats are less likely to agree with Biden on most or many major issues and to express positive views of his conduct than are older Democrats.

For example, while 91% of Democrats ages 65 and older agree with Biden on all (or nearly all) or many issues, a smaller majority (65%) of those under age 35 say the same.

Older Democrats also are more likely to say they like how Biden conducts himself in office. Fully 92% of those over 65 say they like how Biden conducts himself, compared with smaller shares of adults aged 50 t0 64 (84%), 36 to 49 (77%) and those under age 35 (57%).

Still, most younger Democrats do not express negative views of Biden’s conduct. Rather, 40% of Democrats ages 18-34 say they have mixed views of his conduct, the highest share of any age group.

While Black (85%) and White (81%) Democrats have largely positive views of Biden’s conduct, a narrower majority of Hispanic Democrats (61%) say they like the way he conducts himself as president. Hispanic Democrats are more likely than White and Black Democrats to have mixed views of Biden’s conduct.

And while there are only modest ideological differences in these views, there are wider gaps between partisans and independents who lean toward the Democratic party. Those who identify as members of the Democratic Party are more likely than those who lean toward the party to say they agree with Biden on most or nearly all issues (82% v. 70%) or say they like how he is conducting himself in office (83% vs. 64%).

Biden’s conduct is viewed far more positively than Trump’s was in 2020

Overall, the share of the public who say they agree with Biden on important issues is little different from the share who said they agreed with Trump in February 2020, at the beginning of his fourth year in office. Then, 42% of the public said they agreed with Trump on most or nearly all issues. Today, a similar share (44%) says they agree with Biden on most or nearly all issues.

Just as in 2020, few members of the opposing party say they agree with the president on important issues facing the country. In 2020, 62% of Democrats said they agreed with Trump on no or almost no issues. Similarly, today, about six-in-ten (63%) Republicans say they do not agree with Biden on any issues.

However, while members of the president’s party largely express agreement with him on major issues facing the country, Republicans in 2020 were more likely to say they agreed with Trump on all or nearly all issues (38%), than Democrats (24%) are to say this today.

Overall views of Biden’s conduct in office are more positive than they were for Trump last year: 46% of Americans say they like how Biden conducts himself in office. In February of 2020, just 15% said this of Trump.

About three-quarters of Democrats (76%) say they like how Biden is conducting himself in office. Last year, just 31% of Republicans said they liked Trump’s conduct (half said they had mixed feelings about Trump’s conduct).

And while Democrats were overwhelmingly critical of Trump’s conduct in 2020 (85% said they did not like the way he conducted himself in office), a smaller majority of Republicans (59%) says this of Biden today (30% say they have mixed feelings).

Biden’s impact on the tone of political debate in the U.S.

Approaching the 100-day mark of his presidency, 44% of the public says that Biden has changed the tone and nature of political debate in the United States “for the better.” Fewer (29%) say he has changed political discourse for the worse, while 27% say he has not changed the tone of political debate much either way.

About seven-in-ten Democrats (73%) say that Biden has changed the tone and nature of debate for the better. A quarter of Democrats say Biden has not affected the tone of political debate much, while only 3% said he has made it worse.

Views among Republicans are far more negative: About six-in-ten (62%) say that Biden has made political debate worse in the country, while 11% said he has made it better and 27% say he has not changed debate much either way.

Views among Republican differ by ideology: About seven-in-ten conservative Republicans (72%) say Biden has changed the tone of debate for the worse, while moderate and liberal Republicans are more divided on this question: 43% say Biden has changed the tone of debate for the worse, 34% say he has not changed debate much, while 21% say he has changed it for the better.

Overall, views of Biden’s impact on the tone and nature are more positive than they were for Trump during the final year of his presidency.

In June 2020, a majority of the public (55%) believed that Trump had changed the tone and nature of political debate in the country for the worse. Just 29% say that about Biden’s impact on debate today.

While most members of the president’s party express positive views of how their leader has changed political debate in the country, the share of Democrats (73%) who now say that Biden has changed public debate for the better is substantially greater than the share of Republicans (50%) who said Trump had a positive impact on debate last year.

Republicans have more positive views of Biden’s effect on the tone of national political debate than Democrats had of Trump last year. In 2020, about eight-in-ten Democrats (83%) said that Trump made the tone of political debate worse; today, 62% of Republicans say this about Biden.

Public views of ethical standards of the Biden administration

About half of Americans (52%) say top officials in the Biden administration have excellent (16%) or good (36%) ethical standards, while 47% say their ethics are only fair (22%) or poor (25%).

Partisans have very different views of the ethical standards of Biden administration officials. About eight-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (83%) say top Biden administration officials have excellent (28%) or good (54%) ethical standards, while a similar share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (85%) say these officials have poor (55%) or fair (29%) standards.

About half of Americans approve of Democratic congressional leaders’ performance, while 32% approve of GOP leaders

Half of Americans say they approve of the job Democratic leaders are doing today, while about a third (32%) say the same about Republican congressional leaders. Nearly two-thirds (64%) say they disapprove of the job Republicans have done in Congress, while 47% say that about Democratic leaders.

Democrats are more approving of their party’s leaders in Congress than Republicans are of theirs. Fully 84% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they approve of the job their party’s leaders are doing in Congress; 55% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the same about GOP leaders.

The share of the public saying they approve of the job Democratic congressional leaders are doing is nine percentage points higher now than in the spring 2019, when 41% of the public said they approved. This increase is largely driven by higher approval ratings among Democrats (84% approve now vs. 69% then).