US: Biden economic stimulus package approved 3:45
(CNN) -
The fast-moving financial aid bill in Congress is widely popular, according to a new CNN poll by SSRS.
The bill's popularity comes as President Joe Biden's approval rating leans to positive about 50 days after he took office.
In the new poll, 61% support Biden's proposed $ 1.9 trillion economic relief bill, which is expected to pass in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Several key provisions of the bill are even more popular.
A vast majority of Americans (85%) say they support policies in the bill that would provide higher tax credits for families and make it easier for low-income households to claim them, including cross-party majorities (95% Democrats and 73% of Republicans support it).
About three-quarters favor provisions to provide funds to facilitate physical return to schools for K-12 students (77%) and send stimulus checks worth up to $ 1,400 per person to most families and individuals (76%).
Both policies also have the support of the majority in all parties (55% of Republicans support each, among Democrats, support exceeds 90% for each).
A smaller majority, 59%, say they support the provision of $ 350 billion in aid to state and local governments.
That policy causes the sharpest partisan divide among the four analyzed, with 88% of Democrats in favor versus just 28% of Republicans.
Stimulus checks could come quickly, but the unemployed may have to wait for subsidies
One measure that is not in the bill - which is to increase the federal minimum wage from $ 7.25 an hour to $ 15 an hour - also has the support of the majority.
Overall, 55% of respondents are in favor of such a minimum wage increase, including 85% of Democrats, 52% of independents, and 20% of Republicans.
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About two-thirds of Americans say that if the bill becomes law, it will help the economy at least in part (66%), and 55% say it would help people like them.
Those with lower annual incomes are more likely to say that the bill will do a lot to help them than those with higher incomes (46% of those making less than $ 25,000 per year say it will help people like them a lot , compared to just 6% among those earning $ 100,000 or more per year), as do women (28% of women say it will help them a lot vs. 19% of men) and people of color (37% among people of color vs. 16% among whites).
The economic stimulus project is widely popular
The bill's wide popularity comes when just over half of Americans say they approve of the way Biden is handling the presidency (51%), while 41% disapprove.
Biden's popularity is highest when it comes to handling the coronavirus pandemic: 60% approve and 34% disapprove.
And the majority, 54%, say the new president's policies will steer the country in the right direction.
Still, even with high hopes of economic improvement from the subsidy bill, there are hints in this poll that Biden has yet to win over the public when it comes to handling the overall economy.
His approval rating for handling the economy is 49% and disapproval 44%.
Only 30% say they have a lot of confidence in Biden to deal with the economy.
Although the bill is poised to become a major legislative achievement for the Biden administration, the president receives somewhat mixed criticism for his handling of some issues, including environmental policy (50% approve, 41% disapprove) , helps the middle class (50% approve, 43% disapprove), racial injustice (47% approve, 43% disapprove), foreign affairs (44% approve and 46% disapprove) and immigration (43% approve and 49% disapprove) .
Biden's overall approval rating about two months into his presidency is higher than that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who had an approval rating of 45% in a CNN poll in March 2017. But 51% of Biden lags behind other modern presidents, including the three most recent before Trump: Barack Obama, 64%, in March 2009;
George W. Bush, 58%, in March 2001, and Bill Clinton, 53%, in March 1993.
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Biden, better in the polls than Trump at the beginning of his administration
Both Biden and Trump appear to be lagging behind due to much sharper partisan polarization than their predecessors faced at this stage in their presidencies.
Almost all Democrats approve of how Biden is handling the job so far (92%) while almost all Republicans disapprove (88%).
That's about the same as Trump's partisan views in March 2017: 88% of Republicans approved of it and 89% of Democrats disapproved.
In March 2009, Obama's disapproval among Republicans was more than 20 points lower than Biden's (65% disapproved), Bush's disapproval among Democrats stood at only 49%, in March 2001, and the Clinton's disapproval rating among Republicans, in March 1993, was 59%.
Americans also appear to have more confidence in Biden than in Trump when it comes to political leadership measures.
Overall, 38% say they are very confident in Biden's ability to provide real leadership for the country (31% said it about Trump, in April 2017).
34% have a lot of confidence in Biden to name the best people for the job (Trump stood at 27%, in April 2017).
About a third (32%) say they have a lot of confidence in Biden to work effectively with Congress.
The proportion of Americans who say things in the country are going well today has rebounded after falling sharply in January.
Overall, 39% say things are going well now, up from 22% in January and roughly the same as in October 2020, just before the presidential election.
However, there has been a strong partisan shift on this issue, as often happens when the presidency changes hands.
Only 9% of Democrats said things were going well in January, which has risen to 59% in the new poll.
On the Republican side, the percentage saying things are going well has dropped from 37% in January to 19% now.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS, March 3-8, among a random national sample of 1,009 adults, contacted by landlines or cell phones by a live interviewer.
The full sample results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The survey's methodology and weighting incorporates some changes to CNN's polling practices from the January 2021 survey. Interviews conducted with mobile phones accounted for 75% of the total, up from 65% in recent surveys from CNN.
The tagging was extended for six days instead of four days, allowing more efforts to be made to contact those who are not easily accessible.
Demographic weighting was adjusted to account for the more discrete education categories disaggregated by race, and geographic weighting was applied to ensure a representative distribution by population density.
CNN Polls