Joe Biden’s first 100 days of presidency

April 29 will mark the first 100 days of the Biden presidency. The general view is that the Biden administration received positive marks early in his presidency thanks to achievements in COVID-19 vaccination and response to climate change. The Associated Press described Biden’s 100 days as “more action, less talk.” According to a CBS/YouGov poll, 62 percent of Americans picked works to describe Biden, such as “presidential.”

President Biden has delivered 24 out of his 61 election pledges, such as statewide mask requirement, rejoining of the World Health Organization (WHO), reinstating the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement, holding a climate summit, and COVID-19 stimulus measures.

In particular, the media is praising the administration for its achievements in tackling COVID-19. President Biden pledged to hit the goal of 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days but the goal has been reached in only 58 days in office. It hit 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of last Wednesday. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 53.6% of adult populations over the age of 18 received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 36.5% had two doses of vaccine. Since the U.S. has enough vaccine supply, health authorities are now considering a booster shot to increase the vaccine efficacy. The country’s daily COVID-19 death toll, which stood at 4,380 at time of inauguration, has dropped to 700s.

The oldest president in the history of the U.S. is being praised for his calm and stable attitude. According to CBS News/YouGov survey on Sunday, Americans picked words such as “presidential,” “competent,” and “focused” to describe President Biden. They said Biden is in complete contrast to Trump, who frequently got into a feud with the opposition and the media, and was always unpredictable.

To be sure, Biden still has a long way to go. The Biden administration has tough challenges including America divided by racism, migrants and gun control, fiscal deficits caused by stimulus measures and controversy over tax increases, and race for global dominance between the U.S. and China. In particular, the Biden administration is finding it hard to cope with a surge of migrants from Central and South America, who are coming to the southern border in anticipation of easing of immigration controls. An ABC News poll found that only 37% of respondents approved of Biden’s immigration policies.


lightee@donga.com