WASHINGTON, DC – Three weeks before Election Day, the approval rating for Vice President Kamala Harris' job stands at 45%, essentially unchanged from last month. President Joe Biden's latest rating is 39%, also similar to a month ago but six percentage points lower than an update in late September. Meanwhile, Americans' approval of the work of Congress fell to 16% last month.

Harris receives nearly unanimous support from Democrats (94%), as well as 41% of independents and just 8% of Republicans. Biden's job ratings are lower among Democrats (83%) and independents (33%), while 8% of Republicans also approve of the incumbent president. There is little difference in approval of Congress between Democrats (19%), Independents (17%) and Republicans (13%).

These results come from a Gallup poll conducted October 1-12.

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Harris' rating has been stable since his nomination

Harris's latest approval rating for her job as vice president matches the ratings of 47% and 44% she received after unexpectedly replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee in early August. Biden received the lowest job rating of his presidency — 36% — in July, just before he ended his push for a second term. After rising to 43% in August, Biden's approval rating fell in two polls in September. Biden's job rating has not risen above 45% since August 2021, shortly before the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

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August 2021 was also the last time Biden saw Democratic approval ratings as high as Harris' current rating among party loyalists. Since becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris' approval rating among Democrats has fluctuated between 93% and 95%. Her rating among independents has ranged from 38% to 43% over the same period, while Biden has averaged 39% with the group so far in his term. Republican approval ratings for the president and vice president have consistently been in the single digits since August 2021.

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Congressional approval remains low

The congressional job approval rating has not risen above 20% since the start of the 118^Th Congress in January 2023, when 21% of Americans expressed approval. Today's rating of 16% is in line with the 17% average since 2023, but is still above the record low of 9% in November 2013 following a federal government shutdown.

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Control of Congress is currently divided: there is a Democratic majority in the US Senate, while Republicans hold the majority of seats in the US House of Representatives. As in other times of divided party control, both major parties view the institution similarly. When one party controls both chambers, such as in 2017 and 2018 (Republicans) or 2021 and 2022 (Democrats), that party's supporters were much more positive about Congress, while the other party was more negative.

Although recent ratings from Republicans, Democrats and independents are dismal, both parties' approval ratings have fallen over the past year.

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Implications

Harris enters the final three weeks of the presidential campaign with an approval rating of 45%. Given that only two other sitting vice presidents in recent history have been nominated as their party's candidates for president, it is unclear what significance a vice president's approval rating for the office has on the election outcome.

In September 1988, before George HW Bush won the presidency, an NBC/Wall Street Journal One poll found that 54% of likely voters approved of Bush's job as Ronald Reagan's vice president. Conversely, a Gallup poll in August 2000, before Al Gore lost the election, found that 71% of U.S. adults approved of the way he handled his job as Bill Clinton's vice president.

In addition to the presidency, all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats are up for election this year, and Americans' 16 percent approval rating for Congress may not bode well for incumbent congressmen seeking re-election.

Discover President Biden's approval ratings and compare them to previous presidents in the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center.

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Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.

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