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| Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images |
By Mike Allen
AXIOS
As he begins Month 2, President Biden is trying to build trust
with a divided America, knowing he'll need national patience for
an array of problems that can't be solved to suit short attention spans.
Polling shows he has a window of opportunity: In the new Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index, more than half are confident he can make
COVID vaccines widely available and get K-12 students back to school in person.
The catch: This confidence will only last if Americans' lives improve by Biden's big summertime verdict. The administration says the U.S. will have enough vaccine (600 million doses) to give everyone two shots by July 29. But everyone won't take it. So Biden promisesAmerica will be "approaching normalcy by the end of this year."
Data: Axios-Ipsos survey: Chart: Michelle McGhee/Axios
Since October, right before the election, public opinion has reversed itself on whether the federal government has gotten better or worse at handling the pandemic, Axios managing editor David Nather writes.
When we asked the question in late October, 26% of respondents said the federal government's handling had gotten better since the beginning of the pandemic, with 46% saying it had gotten worse.
In this week's poll, those results flipped: 45% now say the federal government's handling of the pandemic has gotten better, with 26% saying it has gotten worse.
As America marked the inconceivable toll of 500,000 dead from COVID in just over a year, Biden addressed the nation with an emotion that showed he's willing to be the face of one of history's biggest crises:
I know that when you stare at that empty chair around the kitchen table, it brings it all back — no matter how long ago it happened — as if it just happened that moment you looked at that empty chair. ...
And the everyday things — the small things, the tiny things —
that you miss the most. That scent when you open the closet.
That park you go by that you used to stroll in. That movie theater
where you met. The morning coffee you shared together. The bend in his smile. The perfect pitch to her laugh.
Biden's remarks.
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