Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s approval rating has increased somewhat over the past few weeks, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, as coronavirus infection rates slowed.

The latest national public opinion poll, conducted Oct. 6-7, found that 48% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s performance in office, which is up by 4 percentage points from a similar poll that ran in mid-September.

47% of respondents disapproved of Biden, down 3 percentage points from September’s poll.  

The rise in Biden’s approval has mirrored a recent drop in U.S. coronavirus cases. According to Reuters, there are approximately 100,000 cases reported each day on average. This is almost 40% more than the January peak.

Recent events have seen the president’s relationship with American citizens become intertwined with the U.S. pandemic.

Biden won the 2020 presidential election because he was perceived as a better candidate than Donald Trump to pull the nation out of its current crisis. Biden received consistently higher support from voters for the response to coronavirus since being elected than other areas of his agenda.

Biden’s approval ratings took a dive when the Delta version drove up the infection rate in the nation this summer.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey is available online and in English across the United States. This latest poll collected responses from 1,005 adults. It included 414 Democrats as well as 365 Republicans. The credibility interval, which is a measurement of precision and accuracy, has been set at 4 percentage points.