(CN) — A poll conducted in the days following the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol found that Donald Trump has the lowest job approval rating of his presidency, while most voters have a favorable view of Joe Biden’s conduct since the election, including his Cabinet selections and policy proposals.
The Pew Research Center survey of 5,360 U.S. adults, including 4,040 who voted in the presidential election, was conducted between Jan. 8-12 and found that Trump is leaving the White House with just 29% approval, the lowest rating of his presidency.
The survey found the number of voters who rate Trump’s conduct since the election as poor rose from 54% in November to 62% after the Capitol siege. Seventy-six percent rated Trump’s conduct as fair to poor, up 8 points from November, and 68% said Trump should not continue to be a major pollical figure. Just 29% said he should remain in U.S. politics.
Biden’s conduct, on the other hand, was rated favorably by respondents. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed rated his post-election conduct as good, and 58% said he has done a good job explaining his plans and policies.
“For many, the shocking events of Jan. 6 – when some Trump supporters heeded the president’s call to march to the Capitol to protest Congress’ acceptance of Biden’s victory and then went on a violent rampage throughout the building – have seriously marred Trump’s final days as president,” the Pew report states.
Three-quarters of those polled said the president bears at least some responsibility for the violence and destruction committed by some Trump supporters, with 52% saying he has a lot of responsibility for their actions. About a quarter, 24%, said Trump is not responsible for what took place.
Only about half of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents, or 52%, said Trump bears responsibility for the Capitol violence and destruction, and 79% said he should not be removed from office before Jan. 20. Conversely, nearly all Democrats and those leaning in the direction of Democrat, 95%, said Trump is at least partially responsible for the riot, and 83% said he should be removed from office.
“These deep divisions extend to opinions about the election results itself,” Pew researchers said.
When Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20, a large segment of Trump voters will still consider him the winner of the election, “despite scores of failed court challenges to the election brought by Trump’s lawyers and Congress’ confirmation of Biden’s Electoral College victory in the early morning hours of Jan. 7,” the report states.
The report pointed out that while 65% of voters said Biden either definitely or probably received the most votes to win the election, including 54% who said he definitely won, a staggering 34% still incorrectly believe Trump definitely or probably was the rightful winner.
Although not all Republican voters are also Trump supporters, the survey found that nearly half of Republicans, 46%, think Trump had no responsibility for the Capitol riot, while 64% believe he is the rightful winner of the election.
But much of the decline in Trump’s job approval rating, which plummeted by 9 percentage points since August, is due to a loss of support among Republicans. Sixty percent of them currently approve of Trump, compared to 77% in August.
Two-thirds of all voters, 67%, said a major reason Biden won the election was that “many voters were excited to vote against Trump.” Fifty-nine percent also said the the increased availability of mail and early voting helped, and nearly the same number, 55%, said the election result had to do with the Trump administration’s failure to handle the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, 32% cited widespread illegal voting and fraud – though, again, the disparity is staggering: 70% of Trump supporters cited fraud, while just 2% of Biden voters said the same.
The analysis revealed a majority of Americans believe election cheating happens, with about eight in 10 saying political campaigns either often (36%) or sometimes (43%) do illegal things in order to up their chance of winning. Forty-six percent of those polled said illegal things are done by both parties equally, while 27% said Democrats are more likely to do them and 26% said Republicans are more likely to cheat.
About half of respondents said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris – who will be the nation’s first woman vice president as well as the first African American and first Asian American in the role – is qualified to serve as president, while almost as many said she is unfit. A majority, 55%, said she will have about the right amount of influence over Biden, while 7% fear she will not have enough.
Nearly half, 46%, said they expect overall ethics and honesty in the federal government to rise with Biden’s presidency, versus 30% who expect it to fall.
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