Polls show Biden approval in low 50s at 100-day mark
25 April 2021
Just over half of Americans approve of the job President Biden is doing as he approaches 100th day of his term, NBC News and ABC News/Washington Post polls out Sunday indicate.
Why it matters: Biden has spent trillions within months of taking office to combat the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, while overseeing a national vaccination campaign and facing backlash for a growing humanitarian crisis at the border.
Where it stands: Biden has a 53% approval rating in NBC's poll and a 52% approval rating in polling from ABC News/Washington Post.
- "Biden’s job rating is higher than Donald Trump’s was at this same point in time in the poll (40 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove), but it’s lower than Barack Obama’s was at 100 days (61 percent approve, 30 percent disapprove)," NBC News' Mark Murray reports.
Methodology: NBC News surveyed 1,000 adults from April 17-20, including 600 respondents with a cell phone only, with a margin of error at ±3.10%. Margin of error for 790 interviews with registered voters is ±3.49%.
The ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted by cellphone and landline April 18-21 in English and Spanish among a national sample of 1,007 adults. Margin of error ±3.5 percentage points.Partisan divisions are 33%-24%-35%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.