Biden’s approval rating rises while Trump’s slips after election, new poll finds

President-elect Joe Biden’s approval rating has risen since the election to 55% while President Donald Trump’s favorability has decreased three points to 42%, according to a new Gallup poll.

Biden’s rating is at its highest mark since Feb. 2019 when it was 56%, two months before he announced he was running for president. Trump’s highest approval rating was in April, at 49%.

The survey was taken while Trump has refused to concede the election to Biden and mounted legal challenges to election results in multiple states.

Biden’s approval rating saw the biggest increase from those outside of his base: Independents’ ratings rose from 48% to 55% and Republicans’ ratings rose from 6% to 12%, according to Gallup. Democrats’ positive ratings of Biden have stayed relatively stable, from 95% in late October to 96% after the election.

The latest Gallup poll was conducted Nov. 5-19 with a sample size of 1,018 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Past post-election changes

Winning presidential candidates tend to have higher approval ratings after the election while losing candidates have mixed favorability changes.

Trump had a relatively lower favorability rating compared to other winning candidates, but his rating still rose 8 percentage points after his win to 42%. Former President Barack Obama got a 6 percentage point boost from 62% to 68% in 2008, after he first won the presidency.

Former President George W. Bush had a 4-point increase in approval rating in 2000 after the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision that decided the election result for Bush over Al Gore, according to Gallup.

Among past losing candidates, former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton saw no change in her approval rating after she lost the election in 2016. Former Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain had a 4-point and 14-point increase, respectively, after losing their elections.

This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Biden’s approval rating rises while Trump’s slips after election, new poll finds."