Most Americans see Biden as likable, intelligent; not as strong, decisive leader: Gallup

While a majority of Americans see President Biden as likable and intelligent, fewer Americans see him as a strong and decisive leader, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.

A Gallup poll on Tuesday found that most Americans polled believe that the president is likable (60 percent) and intelligent (59 percent); however, only 37 percent view Biden as a strong and decisive leader.

Less than half of those surveyed also believed Biden could manage the government effectively (38 percent), display good judgment in a crisis (43 percent) or saw him as honest and trustworthy (45 percent), according to the poll.

Close to half of respondents - 48 percent - believed that the president cared about the needs of the people like those polled.

The percentage of Americans who believed that the president possessed the positive characteristics that Gallup polled for had decreased in almost every case since the last time the poll was conducted.

When Americans were polled in September 2020 over whether they believed Biden, then a presidential candidate, possessed these same qualities, more Americans responded favorably to him.

In that last poll, 55 percent of respondents said that Biden cared about the needs of people, 46 percent saw him as a strong and decisive leader, 52 percent found him to be honest and trustworthy and 52 percent said he could manage the government effectively.

Even more respondents also said they saw Biden as likable - 66 percent - and close to half (49 percent) said he displayed good judgment in a crisis.

The poll joins several other recent polls that have indicated lower approval ratings for the president, including two recent ones by NBC News and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that have his approval rating at 43 percent.

The president's first year has been challenging as the administration seeks to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, withdrew troops from Afghanistan, weighs military involvement in Ukraine amid tensions with Russia and has had Democratic key legislation stalled amid several Democratic senator holdouts.

Still, Biden said during a nearly two-hour press conference last week that he did not buy the recent polling.

The Gallup poll was conducted between Jan. 3 and Jan. 16 and surveyed 811 adults. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.