One year into Joe Biden’s presidency, the reviews are in. But why do they range from marked success to tragic failure?
Below, we break down how each side is perceiving Biden’s first year as president, and why we see it so differently.
The first year of Biden’s presidency has come with unprecedented challenges from the pandemic. Although Biden hasn’t been able to pass his entire legislative agenda, notable progress has been made, especially in critical areas such as clean water, vaccinations, and economic relief.
We are making progress in dismantling Trump’s America. The Biden presidency is restoring the good life that Trump ruined.
The first year of the Biden administration has been an unmitigated disaster. Biden’s inability to act decisively has led to failure after failure, especially in important areas such as immigration, high inflation, and far-reaching pandemic restrictions.
We are living in Biden’s America, an America moving in an immoral, destitute, and authoritarian direction. We must righteously fight against this administration to ensure a better future.
People on the left are more likely to have supported Biden since his election and have a positive outlook on the future, emphasizing the Biden administration’s successes when looking back at his first year as president.
People on the right are more likely to have opposed Biden since his election and have a pessimistic view of the past year, emphasizing the Biden administration’s failures when looking back at his first year as president.
What else is the left focusing on?
The narrative: The first year of Biden’s presidency has come with unprecedented challenges from the pandemic. Although Biden hasn’t been able to pass his entire legislative agenda, notable progress has been made, especially in critical areas such as clean water, vaccinations, and economic relief.
We are making progress in dismantling Trump’s America. The Biden presidency is restoring the good life that Trump ruined.
How could a reasonable person come to think that?
People on the left are more likely to have supported Biden since his election and have a positive outlook on the future, emphasizing the Biden administration’s successes when looking back at his first year as president.
What else is the right focusing on?
The narrative: The first year of the Biden administration has been an unmitigated disaster. Biden’s inability to act decisively has led to failure after failure, especially in important areas such as immigration, high inflation, and far-reaching pandemic restrictions.
We are living in Biden’s America, an America moving in an immoral, destitute, and authoritarian direction. We must righteously fight against this administration to ensure a better future.
How could a reasonable person come to think that?
People on the right are more likely to have opposed Biden since his election and have a pessimistic view of the past year, emphasizing the Biden administration’s failures when looking back at his first year as president.
When we come across new information — such as an indicator of Biden’s success or failure — our mind doesn’t process it in a vacuum. We use our existing views and values to process the new information, and ultimately decide if it holds weight.
This process is helpful for survival; it helps us make quick decisions about potential dangers. But it can obstruct our interpretation of new information if we favor information which aligns with our worldview over information that does not — because none of us have an entirely accurate view of the world.
And it doesn’t help that our brains aren’t very good at accurately attributing blame when it comes to complicated issues like COVID-19 or the economy.
So when it comes to evaluating President Biden’s job performance during his first year, his supporters will naturally deemphasize flaws in his actions, while emphasizing what’s going right — because it makes sense that Biden would have a successful first year (at least in comparison to Trump). Meanwhile, Biden’s critics will naturally deemphasize successes, while emphasizing what’s going wrong — because it doesn’t make sense that Biden would have a more successful first year than Trump.
To help mitigate these automatic processes, it’s often helpful to ask ourselves whether we’d attribute the worst or best of this year to the president if the election had gone differently.
"It took Biden less than a year to make good on a transformational piece of legislation that will reshape America’s cities, towns & communities…By this point in his presidency, Trump had made 2,140 false or misleading claims."
— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) January 20, 2022
I write for the @latimes https://t.co/zwdJH3X6V0
If all President Biden did was slash unemployment, restore truth to the White House, and successfully execute the biggest vaccination campaign in history, it would have been enough.
— Grant Stern is boosted! (@grantstern) January 20, 2022
Somehow, he convinced Congress to make a HISTORIC investment in clean water too!#BidenYear1Wins pic.twitter.com/eiQod4xPyW
Biden-Harris and Democratic majorities have delivered results For The People:
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) January 20, 2022
➡️ 6.4 million new jobs – best year of job creation in US history
➡️ 1-year drop in unemployment, 6.2% to 3.9%
➡️ Cut child poverty by 40%
➡️ 200 million people fully vaccinated#DemocratsDeliver pic.twitter.com/1P4tCyO92F
When @POTUS Joe Biden and @VP Kamala Harris were sworn in one year ago, our nation faced a dark and difficult moment from pandemic and economic crises.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 20, 2022
Good morning to everyone except the now 1-year-old train wreck, catastrophic, disastrous, dire, dreadful, horrifying, amateurish, world laughingstock, dumpster fire Biden regime.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) January 20, 2022
The first year of the Biden administration was a complete failure.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 20, 2022
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Joe Biden being sworn in as President of the United States and the one-year anniversary of one-party Far-Left Democrat rule in Washington.
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 20, 2022
The result?
A year of unprecedented crises. pic.twitter.com/cljtK2FaOL
India inflation: 5.6%
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) January 20, 2022
(Modi is hurting poor people)
US inflation: 7.0% (40 year high)
(Biden's brilliant economic program is helping poor people)
— Signed
Nobel Laureates in Economics