In his first week in office, Biden announced at least 33 new policies that he will implement through the executive branch, according to
a count from CNN. Polls conducted by
Morning Consult and
Ipsos since Biden’s first day in office have assessed public opinion on 14 of these policies.
In all cases, more of those polled favor the policies than oppose them, and a majority support nearly every policy.
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The popularity of these policies is notable for a few reasons. First, Biden’s emphasis on trying to unify the country in
his inaugural address has created a debate in political circles about exactly what constitutes “unity.” These early executive orders meet one definition — adopting policies that a clear majority of Americans support, which necessitates that at least some Republicans back them. In fact, a few of these policies, such as requiring people to wear masks on federal property, have plurality support among Republicans. (On the other hand, many of Biden’s policies, such as trying to make sure noncitizens are counted in the U.S. Census, are extremely
unpopular with Republicans.)
Secondly, the popularity of these orders with the public is another illustration of what public opinion has long suggested: Americans are divided into two roughly equal-sized camps in terms of electoral power — in part because structures such as
the Senate and
the Electoral College have skewed the vote toward Republicans, at least in recent years — but that divide does not always show up in terms of policy issues. For example, protecting undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children from deportation (the DACA program) has long had
a fair amount of support from people who vote for and identify with the Republican Party, which tried to wind down DACA in the Trump era.
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Thirdly, the popularity of these orders suggests that Biden will govern differently than his predecessor.
In the case of many of these orders, Trump implemented a policy that polls clearly showed was unpopular and Biden is simply reversing it. Biden positioned himself during the Democratic primary as a candidate who would eschew controversial ideas to appeal to more centrist voters. And we are only a week into his presidency, but it looks like Biden is trying to follow through on his campaign approach.
