In the two and a half weeks since the presidential election was called for Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has not officially conceded. However, as of November 23, he reportedly has told his officials to begin “initial protocols” involving the handoff to Biden.
Data from the latest Economist / YouGov poll conducted before Trump took steps towards approving the changeover finds that a majority of (57%) registered voters disapprove of how Trump is handling the presidential transition. Democrats (94%) overwhelmingly disapprove, with half of Independents (50%) saying the same. Just 16% of Republicans, however, find fault with the President’s actions.
Joe Biden is seen more favorably in terms of handling the transition, but not overwhelmingly so. Just over half (54%) of registered voters approve of how he is handling things, while 34% disapprove. Nearly all (91%) Democrats, along with 45% of Independents and one in five (19%) Republicans approve of how the President-Elect is managing the transition. Roughly two-thirds (65%) of Republicans disapprove of Joe Biden’s actions.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 registered voters interviewed online between November 15 - 17, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3.2% for the overall sample.
