More voters say Trump presidency ‘better than expected’ compared to Biden: poll

Hindsight really is 2020.

A plurality of US voters say former President Donald Trump’s four years in office were “better than expected” while fewer than one in seven say the same of President Biden’s tenure, a new poll shows.

An NBC News national survey released Friday found that 40% of respondents said Trump’s presidency was “better” than they thought it would be.

Another 29% said it was “worse,” and 31% said it was “about as expected.”

Only 14% said Biden’s presidency was “better than expected” — and 42% said it was “worse.”

Another 44% said it was “about as expected,” according to the poll.

Halfway through Trump’s term in office, NBC News found just 29% of registered voters nationwide said his presidency was “better than expected,” 27% said it was “worse,” and 43% said it was “about as expected.”

When Friday’s poll was broken down by party affiliation, 52% of Democrats said the Biden administration “met expectations,” 30% said it was “better than they expected” and 18% said it has been “worse.”

When Friday’s poll was broken down by party affiliation, 52% of Democrats said the Biden administration “met expectations,” 30% said it was “better than they expected” and 18% said it has been “worse.”

Meanwhile, 80% of Republican voters said the Trump administration was “better than expected” and only 6% said it was “worse” — with 24% saying it was “about as expected.”

However, the Biden administration polled incredibly low with independent voters, only 6% of whom said the president’s tenure had been “better than they expected” and a whopping 52% of whom said it has been “worse.”

Among independent voters, 38% said the Trump administration was “better” than expected, 43% said it was “about as expected” and 18% said it was “worse.”

Former President Donald Trump is currently favored to win back the Oval Office later this year. JOHN MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Registered voters list the economy and the US border as top issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the poll also found, with those critical of Biden citing concerns about his age and mental acuity.

But even some Democrats told NBC News that the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and some of his signature legislative achievements were a disappointment.

“Nothing has touched me when it comes to Biden at all that I can say, at least, ‘Yeah, there was a trickle-down,’” New Jersey Democrat Dionne Holt, who voted for Biden in 2020, told the outlet.

The Biden administration polled incredibly low with independent voters. Getty Images

Nevertheless, Holt maintained that Trump was not “good for the country” and her view of his presidency had not softened in the more than three years since he left office.

Those who still say Biden’s tenure has been “better than expected” referenced the administration’s opposition to Trump, laws passed to support US infrastructure and combat climate change and an improving economy since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By contrast, Republican voters who looked back with nostalgia at Trump’s time in office cited economic growth and stability in foreign affairs.

“I think the economy was growing and the country was secure. Well, we had the border, and we had no wars, we had no wars with the other foreign countries,” one Illinois Republican in his mid-50s told NBC.

Trump’s handling of the economy and immigration earned him high marks from some registered Democrats and independent voters as proof that his administration was “better than expected.”

Registered voters who said the 45th president’s administration was “worse than expected” cited his personal character, his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The NBC poll was conducted Jan. 26-30 among 1,000 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.