New polling:
After a spike in U.S. Covid-19 cases and bipartisan criticism over the chaos from America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden’s overall job-approval rating has dipped below 50 percent among adults for the first time in his early presidency, according to a new NBC News poll.
The poll also finds fewer Americans support Biden’s handling of the coronavirus and the economy now than they did last spring, and just a quarter of respondents approve of his handling of Afghanistan.
The survey findings demonstrate the public has grown more pessimistic about the coronavirus since April, the country remains split over whether Covid-19 vaccines should be mandated and an electorate is divided over which political party should control Congress after the 2022 midterms.
It’s all produced a “summer of discontent” for Biden, said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
“The promise of April has led to the peril of August,” Horwitt said, arguing that Covid — more than Afghanistan — has dented Biden’s numbers. “It is the domestic storm, Covid’s delta wave, that is causing more difficulties at this stage here at home and for President Biden.”
McInturff agrees.
“The best way to understand this poll is to forget Afghanistan,” he said.
According to the survey, 49 percent of adults approve of Biden’s overall job performance, while 48 percent disapprove.
That’s down from April’s NBC News poll, when 53 percent of adults approved of Biden’s job and 39 percent disapproved — with some of the biggest declines for Biden coming from independents, rural residents and white respondents.
Democrats, however, have held steady, with 88 percent of them approving of Biden’s job (it was 90 percent in April).
Among a narrower sample of registered voters, Biden’s current job rating stands at 50 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove — down from April, when it was 51 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove.
(Despite this drop for Biden, his approval rating is higher than former President Donald Trump’s ever was in the poll during his entire presidency.)
Additionally, the poll finds 53 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the coronavirus (which is a 16-point drop from April) and 47 percent approve his handling of the economy (a 5-point decline from the spring).
And just 25 percent approve of Biden’s handling of Afghanistan, while 60 percent disapprove.
We all thought that we were on the verge of being free. Then the unvaccinated Delta pandemic hit and we had to pull back again. It’s made for a sour mood, when we were expecting a joyous uplift. The president takes a hit when that happens.
The CBS Poll has similar findings on Afghanistan:
This was baked in, imo. The people still want the withdrawal but they want it to be clean and efficient without complications. The media is playing into that with its over-the-top coverage.
Wars don’t end that way, unfortunately.