There's a reason why President Biden and former President Trump spend so much time attacking each other — people don't think either man has much to boast about when it comes to their own record. Americans generally believe that the harm done to key issues during their time in the White House was greater than the good.
But the candidates have different weaknesses. For Biden, there is widespread discontent on two issues: the economy and immigration. At the same time, Trump faces an electorate that a large percentage of him believes has hurt the country on a range of issues.
A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that more than half of American adults believe the Biden presidency hurt the country on costs of living and immigration, while nearly half believe the Trump presidency hurt the country on voting rights and election security. Relations with foreign countries, abortion laws, and climate change.
“Given gas prices, grocery prices, the economy — I did very well during those four years,” Christina Elliott, 60, a Republican from Texas, said of Trump’s presidency. “I didn't have to worry about filling up my gas tank or losing half my paycheck at 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 keep his mouth shut.”
“But other than that, like I said, I did a very good job during the Trump years,” she added.
The poll highlights why certain issues — such as abortion for Biden and immigration for Trump — have been consistent focal points in each campaign. The former president regularly denounces the number of asylum seekers arriving in the United States under Biden, describing the situation in horrific and dark terms. Biden has launched an attack against Trump on abortion, especially after this week's ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that essentially criminalizes the procedure in the state.
When asked which president has done more to help people like him, nearly a third say Donald Trump and about a quarter say Joe Biden. However, 30% of adults said Biden and Trump did not benefit them. It's another data point that largely reflects voter disillusionment with general election choices this year, generating little enthusiasm among key parts of Biden's and Trump's political alliances.
Americans rate Biden particularly negatively on some specific issues. Only about 2 in 10 Americans think a Biden presidency has helped “a lot” or “a little” with costs of living, and 16% say so regarding immigration and border security. Nearly 6 in 10 say his presidency did a lot or a little harm on these issues. By contrast, nearly half of Americans, 46%, say the Trump presidency has helped a lot or a little on immigration or border security. Four in 10 say it helped with living costs.
Texas resident Trilicia Morenz, 36, said she feels the Biden presidency has taken a hit when it comes to daily expenses.
“Now that he's in office, the costs of living have skyrocketed out of control, and there's nothing that can be done about it,” said Morenz, a Democrat, citing rising rent and food costs. She said she believes Biden is capable of doing more: “He just chose to do other things.”
The pandemic hurt Trump in terms of employment as the economy lost 2.7 million jobs under his watch. But pandemic lockdowns also significantly suppressed inflation as the consumer price index fell from an annual rate of 2.3% to 0.1%. Meanwhile, low interest rates and historic levels of deficit-financed government stimulus have made many families feel better off under Trump.
Coming out of the pandemic, Biden gave the economy a boost with additional aid that helped spur the 15.2 million job gains under his watch. But supply chain issues, Russia's war in Ukraine and Biden's aid package are judged by many economists to have contributed to higher inflation, hurting Democrats' approval ratings.
Trump's advantage on costs of living and immigration is driven in part by Democrats' lack of enthusiasm about Biden's performance. For example, about a third of Democrats believe that a Biden presidency has hurt the cost of living, and another third believe that Biden has neither helped nor hurt. Only a third of Democrats believe a Biden presidency has helped lower the cost of living. About 3 in 10 Democrats believe a Biden presidency has helped on immigration and border security, a similar percentage believe his presidency has been harmful, and about 4 in 10 believe it has made no difference.
Nadia Stepicheva, 38, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is unhappy with the way Biden has handled immigration.
“The problem is that I don’t like this kind of illegal immigration,” Stepicheva said. She believes that people who enter the United States, even if they come illegally, should be allowed to work so that taxpayer money is not used to care for and house them.
Stepysheva said she had always leaned in favor of Democrats and the party's policies, “but in the last four years, I feel like too much money has been spent on immigration, resulting in all these student loans being forgiven.” She said she is torn about who to vote for next November.
But independents also rate Biden low on these issues: Nearly 6 in 10 independents say a Biden presidency has hurt the country on the cost of living. About 4 in 10 independents say a Biden presidency has hurt the country when it comes to the cost of health care and relations with other countries.
Trump has a different problem.
The former president has no questions about issues that more than half of Americans believe he did more to hurt things than help, but the overall sense of harm is somewhat broader. Nearly half of Americans believe his presidency has done more harm than help on issues of climate change, voting rights, election security, abortion laws, and relations with foreign countries.
Katherine Scott, a Republican who recently moved to New York from Florida, said she found Trump's approach to foreign policy particularly troubling.
“I understand that some people really admire Trump's ability to be nervous and just say whatever comes to mind,” Scott, 30, said. But, referring to Trump's complimentary comments toward autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Scott said, “I don't think he has all the foresight to understand that this may not always be the thing to do.”
The best issue for both Biden and Trump overall is job creation. Trump has a small advantage here: Nearly half say his presidency helped, while 36% say Biden's presidency helped. About half of Americans also believe the Trump presidency has helped improve immigration, and 4 in 10 believe his presidency has helped the cost of living.
On all other issues, the share of Americans who say Biden or Trump helped the country a lot or a little is about 3 in 10 or less. But Republicans, overall, tend to see more benefit from a Trump presidency than Democrats do from a Biden presidency — even on issues where Biden has worked to highlight his victories.
For example, only about half of Democrats say a Biden presidency has helped combat climate change or the cost of health care. On abortion laws, 77% of Democrats believe a Trump presidency has been at least a little harmful, but only about 4 in 10 say a Biden presidency has helped a lot or a little, and a similar percentage believe a Biden presidency has made no difference.
Meanwhile, about 8 in 10 Republicans say the Trump presidency has helped with immigration and border security, job creation and the cost of living.
The poll of 1,204 adults was conducted April 4-8, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Kim and Thompson Defoe write for The Associated Press. AP Writer Josh Bok contributed to this report.
