Biden's job approval drops to 44% amid broad criticism on Afghanistan: POLL
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Joe Biden's job approval rating has fallen underwater in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll amid broad disapproval of his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, including a share of blame on Biden for conditions leading to last week's devastating Kabul airport attack.
Overall, in a sad coda to the nearly 20-year, $2 trillion effort, just 36% of Americans say the war was worth fighting. There was 77% support for the United States withdrawing; the sticking point is how Biden handled it: 60% disapprove.
Slammed by the crisis, his overall job approval rating in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates , is down to 44%, with 51% disapproving – down 6 percentage points in approval and up 9 in disapproval since late June. Intensity has moved decidedly negative: Many more now strongly disapprove, 42%, than strongly approve, 25%.
A substantial 44% think the withdrawal left the United States less safe from terrorism, while only 8% think the country is safer as a result. (The rest see no difference.) One factor: nearly half, 46%, lack confidence that the United States can identify and keep out possible terrorists in the ranks of Afghan refugees.
Still, another result marks a humanitarian impulse despite that security concern: Sixty-eight percent support the United States taking in Afghan refugees after they've been screened for security, versus 27% opposed. That's far more support than Americans expressed for accepting Syrian and other Mideast refugees in 2015, 43%.
Biden and blame
Just 26% of the public both favors the withdrawal of U.S. forces and approves of how Biden handled it. Sixty-nine percent instead express criticism: 52% who support withdrawing but disapprove of how Biden handled it and 17% who oppose having withdrawn.
Another measure simply asks if Americans approve or disapprove of how Biden has handled the situation in Afghanistan. On this, 30% approve, with, as noted, 60% disapproving.
Further, 53% say his handling of the withdrawal bears some blame for the suicide bombing attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghans last week -- a great deal of blame, 38%, and a good amount, 15%.
Approval
Biden came into office with 67% approval for his handling of the transition, but that quickly subsided to 52% job approval in April, held roughly steady at 50% in June and is down to 44% now.
In polling data since the Harry Truman administration, only two presidents have had a lower approval rating at this point in their terms: Donald Trump, at 37% in August 2017, and Gerald Ford, also 37%, in March 1975.
There are some dramatic gaps in Biden's overall approval -- 18 points higher among women than men (53% to 35%), 23 points higher among members of racial and ethnic minority groups than whites (59% versus 36%), 24 points higher among adults with a post-graduate degree versus those without a college degree (63% versus 39%) and 28 points higher among urban residents versus those in rural areas (52% versus 24%; it's 43% in the suburbs).
In shifts since June, Biden's approval is down especially among men (down 10 points), urban residents (down 10), independents (down 9), Democrats (down 8) and slightly among whites (down 6). It's essentially unchanged among women, suburban residents, Republicans and racial or ethnic minorities.
The drop among men reflects their much higher likelihood of placing some blame for the Aug. 26 airport bombing on Biden's handling of the withdrawal: Sixty-two percent of men hold this view, compared with 45% of women.
Partisans
Political differences are very sharp. Biden has just 8% overall approval from Republicans, and 36% from independents, compared with 86% among Democrats. It's 13% among conservatives, 53% from moderates and 69% among liberals.
The president's rating drops especially steeply among Democrats when it comes specifically to his handling of the situation in Afghanistan. Here, he gets 56% approval within his own party, 30 points lower than for his job performance overall.
Partisan differences subside on another measure: Majorities across the political spectrum support accepting screened Afghan refugees -- 79% of Democrats, 71% of independents and, fewer, but still 56% of Republicans. Results are similar by ideology, with accepting refugees backed by 80% of liberals, 77% of moderates and 58% of conservatives. Support is lowest, albeit still a majority, among the least-educated adults -- 54% among those who haven't gone beyond high school.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 30-24-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Maryland. See details on the survey's methodology here .
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A word of caution: This was the poll that claimed Biden would win WI by 17 points, when it was by less than 1. So real approval is probably in 30s or lower. Which sounds about right.
Key Takeaway:
Reality has struck and the democrats will have a record to defend in coming elections. Their allies in the media will try to protect them, as they always do, but it may not work. While MSNBC and CNN have quickly moved on from Afghanistan and focus on other news stories, the more closely watched Fox News has not. Last night, for example, Tucker Carlson devoted his show to those left behind in Afghanistan and how many were Americans, how many Afghans were on the move, how many are we taking, where are they being sent etc, etc. Victor Davis Hanson gave us a perspective on how much military equipment was left behind, telling us that it was about 85% of all the aid we gave Israel in the last 70 years, or the equivalent of 6 Gerald Ford class Aircraft Carriers. Others talked about the possible ramifications, including the possibility that ISIS or Al-Qaeda may have seeded cells within the groups of Afghans we flew out of Kabul, or the new order in the middle east etc, etc. Last but not least we heard Donald Trump say, as only he could, that America has never seen such stupidity."
Out of the mouths of babes:
Just the other day we heard Biden say "Imagine if the other guy was here”
Well Joe, for starters, If Trump were here, gas would be $2.00/gal, the border would be enforced, 13 service members would be alive, unemployment would be down.......