Marquette poll: Public rates Biden at all-time low, splits on Trump Cabinet picks

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Joe Biden is nearing the end of his term in the White House with an all-time low approval rating, according to a new Marquette Law School Poll.

The same poll found that while a majority of adults nationwide said they approve of the way President-elect Donald Trump handled his job from 2017 to 2021, they are split on whether they approve of his Cabinet selections for his second term.

Biden’s approval declined in December to 34 percent, down from 38 percent in October, the poll found. It noted his disapproval reached 66 percent in December, up from 62 percent in October.

The poll found Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden was “very unpopular” with surveyed adults. Just 29 percent said they approved and 71 percent said they disapproved. Only a slim majority (53 percent) of Democrats said they approve of the pardon, while 77 percent of independents and 92 percent of Republicans said they disapprove.

Biden issued an expansive pardon for the younger Biden Dec. 1, sparing him a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions, after previously saying he would not do so. Some defended Biden’s pardon of his only surviving son and cited concern about his fate under the new Trump administration.

Meanwhile, the Jesuit school’s poll also found 53 percent of adults nationwide said they approve of the way Trump handled his job during his first term, an increase from 50 percent who said so in October. Fewer people (47 percent) said they disapproved, down from 50 percent in October. That approval rating is Trump’s highest in the Marquette Law School Poll’s national surveys since March, when they began asking people the question of how they approve of Trump’s job as president in retrospect.

However, while Trump saw a bump in his approval rating, a slim majority (51 percent to 49 percent) said they disapprove of his Cabinet selections.

While some of Trump’s selections for Cabinet positions were rated favorably by the poll’s respondents — such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for secretary of state — respondents were evenly split on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s selection to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Both Rubio and Kennedy are Catholic.

But a majority of respondents said they disapprove of former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary nominee, with only 27 percent offering a favorable view of his selection and 37 percent finding him unfavorable. Pam Bondi, Trump’s new choice for attorney general, was viewed favorably by 28 percent of respondents, but unfavorably by 31 percent — within the margin of error.

A large majority of respondents (73 percent) said they think the Senate should take time to hold hearings on each of Trump’s nominees, while just 27 percent said the Senate should move quickly. A slight majority of Republicans, 52 percent, agreed the Senate should take time for hearings, while large majorities of independents and Democrats, 84 percent and 93 percent respectively, agreed.

Kennedy, a critic of vaccines, who also took several positions on abortion during his own failed presidential bid, first supporting then walking back his position on a 15-week ban, and Hegseth, who has been accused of sexual assault stemming from a 2017 incident he claimed was consensual, although he later paid the unnamed woman as part of a 2020 nondisclosure agreement, could both face contentious confirmation battles.

The survey was conducted Dec. 2-11, 2024, and included interviews with 1,063 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points.

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