After hitting a low of 37.5 percent in July, President Biden’s approval rating has ticked up over 5 percentage points in FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker. While he’s still underwater, at 42.7 percent,1 it is nonetheless a substantial change.
It’s not a huge mystery why some voters — especially Biden’s own — might be happier with his administration: He’s delivered on quite a few campaign promises recently.
Among other things, the law reduces prescription drug prices for seniors and invests broadly in green energy, including through tax credits to consumers who buy environmentally friendly goods like electric vehicles.
The Inflation Reduction Act came after an already busy summer stretch, too. At the end of June, Biden signed a bipartisan gun-safety bill, the first major legislation on the issue in about 28 years. Meanwhile, on Aug. 1, he announced that the U.S. had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became the al-Qaeda leader after Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011, in a drone strike.
That said, both Morning Consult and Gallup found that Biden’s approval went up not just with Democrats but also with independents. In the Gallup poll, Biden’s approval jumped 9 points with independents since July.