The Biden Presidency in 9 charts

Joe Biden’s presidency will come to an end on Monday when Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term in the White House.

This, of course, wasn’t how Biden wanted things to end. He stood steadfast by his belief that he could win reelection for years, until a poor debate performance prompted him to drop out of the race just a few months before Election Day. Biden’s exit from the campaign, which set the stage for Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, will no doubt color how his presidency is remembered.

But a lot else happened over the last four years. As we look ahead to the next administration, here are nine charts illustrating some of the key numbers that tell at least part of the story of the Biden presidency.

COVID

Biden took office during the deadliest phase of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 25,000 people in the United States died of COVID-related infections during the week he was sworn in. Those numbers dropped swiftly over the next few months as the Biden administration worked to coordinate the initial rollout of vaccines to the American people. COVID deaths spiked two more times over the course of that year before dropping precipitously. The coronavirus isn’t gone — it still kills a few hundred people in the U.S. every week — but it is far from the nationwide crisis that it was when Biden’s presidency began.COVID

The economy

By many measures, the economy is in a far better place than it was when Biden took office. The unemployment rate has recovered from its pandemic-era spike and has stayed below 4.5% for more than three years. The stock market has surged, reaching record highs repeatedly. The U.S. has outpaced the rest of the world in economic growth.

The big exception to those positive trends is inflation. Prices rose rapidly during Biden’s first two years in office, reaching the highest rate in more than 40 years in the summer of 2022. Inflation has gradually cooled since its peak, to the point where the Federal Reserve has felt comfortable modestly cutting interest rates, but the cost of living has remained elevated.

Some of the key consumer goods that are often used as proxies for economic health simply cost more than they did four years ago. Those immediate extra costs clearly overshadowed Biden’s other successes in the eyes of voters. Roughly 60% of Americans now disapprove of how he has handled the economy.

Age

Perhaps more than any other issue, Biden’s age plagued him throughout his time in the White House. He was 78 years old when he was inaugurated and was never able to shake perceptions that he lacked the capacity to serve a second term. Those long-simmering concerns reached a boil after his weak debate performance in June 2024, which eventually led to him dropping out of the race. At 82, Biden is the oldest person to serve as president of the United States, though Trump would claim that title if he serves out his full 4-year term.

Major legislation

In 2020, Biden campaigned on an ambitious policy platform aimed at reviving an economy that was still reeling from the pandemic, investing in American infrastructure and setting the stage for the green energy transition. Democrats held narrow majorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years in office, allowing them to pass a handful of bills totaling more than $3 trillion in additional spending.

Student loans

One of Biden’s signature promises when elected was to help reduce the student debt burden carried by Americans, which today totals roughly $1.6 trillion dollars. In the summer of 2022, he announced a plan that would have provided 20 million borrowers up to $20,000 in student debt relief. The Supreme Court ultimately blocked him from following through on that pledge.

Since then, Biden has continued to pursue a less-ambitious debt relief strategy. Through a series of incremental steps carried out with very little fanfare, his administration has forgiven a total of nearly $189 billion in debt held by 5.3 million borrowers.

Foreign policy

Presidents don’t have the luxury of focusing solely on domestic matters, of course, they’re also in charge of how the U.S. interacts with the rest of the world. Over the past four years, Biden has faced several major challenges abroad.

The first was his choice to follow through with the planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, finally ending the U.S. military’s 20-year occupation. Though Biden stands by the decision, America’s chaotic exit and the swift rise of the Taliban back into power led to heavy criticism.

Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sparked an ongoing war that has tested America’s willingness to support an ally militarility without becoming directly involved in the conflict.

Biden has also been condemned by many on the left for his steady support for Israel during its war in Gaza, which has killed an estimated 46,000 Palestinians.

Public opinion

There’s no way to know how Biden’s presidency will be regarded by history. There are some examples of public opinion turning in favor of former presidents decades after they have left office, including recently deceased Jimmy Carter.

What is clear today, though, is that the American people have a significantly lower opinion of Biden than they did when he assumed the presidency four years ago.