As we documented back in August, President Biden’s approval numbers were taking a beating over the failed exit from Afghanistan and continued rise in Covid-19 case numbers across the country. At the time, it seemed the numbers should hit a floor at some point since most Americans agreed with leaving Afghanistan, though disagreed with the way the Biden administration botched the withdrawal.
New data out on Tuesday from Quinnipiac, a pollster which usually tilts in favor of Democrats, sees Biden’s approval number dropping 4 points from their poll last month.
It’s not entirely clear why Biden’s numbers continue to fall, perhaps the August doldrums haven’t let up yet:
A polling firm has found approval ratings for President Joe Biden have dropped into negative territory for the first time since he took office according to its surveys, as data showed Americans’ views of him have cooled on foreign policy, COVID and the environment.
The national poll of adults by Quinnipiac University, conducted between September 10 to 13, showed that only 42 percent of people approved of the way Biden was doing his job.
This was down four points from the 46 percent the organization’s survey found he had at the beginning of August.
The latest poll released on Tuesday also found that half of respondents (50 percent) disapproved of the way Biden was doing his job, an increase of seven percentage points (43 percent) from the last survey conducted between July 27 and August 2.
As the article says, the honeymoon period for President Biden is over. When a new president assumes power and begins to formulate a strategy for running the county, a decent amount of grace is often provided by the American people since it takes time to work through matters left by the previous administration. At this point, though, America’s patience with Biden’s policies may be wearing thin.
On that note, perhaps it’s Biden’s patience with America wearing thin that has voters evaluating his policies with a more negative view.
It’s noteworthy that this poll started collecting data on September 9, the day that Biden’s vaccine mandate was announced. In that regard, Biden is now underwater on handling Covid as well:
On the coronavirus, roughly the same approve (48 percent) and disapprove (49 percent) but this was down on figures from August when he had a 53—40 percent approval rating on his handling of the pandemic.
Across the board from foreign policy to terrorism, Biden is hemorrhaging support among independents and Democrats. As for some liberals, it may be that Biden isn’t acting strongly enough to move a progressive agenda as his legislative push is currently stalled in Congress.
Perhaps also noteworthy on the topic of Afghanistan is that most Americans don’t think we’re anywhere near done in that war-torn region, with 62 percent of respondents saying it’s likely U.S. troops will have to return to fight terrorism. With each passing day, that potential outcome seems more and more like a real possibility as the country descends into a Taliban dictatorship. God help the people there, especially the women, fighting for some strain of rights and dignity.
On the bright side, Gavin Newsom handily defeated efforts to recall him as Governor which will give Democrats hope for the midterms, despite the weight of Biden’s sinking approval numbers.
