Poll: Biden Job Approval Under Water Following Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan

President Joe Biden’s job approval rating is underwater less than a week after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, a Reuters/Ipsos survey released Friday revealed.

The survey, taken August 18-19, 2021, among 1,002 adults, asked respondents, “Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as President?”

His approval rating is currently underwater, falling to 46 percent, while 49 percent disapprove. Opinions are sharply divided on party lines, as 81 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance, compared to 11 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of independents:

Biden Job Approval:
Approve 46%
Disapprove 49%

.@Reuters/@Ipsos, 1,002 Adults, 8/18-19https://t.co/8ykZ9xecKs

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) August 20, 2021

The dip in Biden’s approval rating coincides with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, although only three percent of respondents identified war and foreign conflicts as the most important problem facing the U.S. today.

Several polls this week showed Biden’s approval rating plummeting to historical lows. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll showed 46 percent of likely U.S. voters approving of Biden’s job performance, a one-point uptick from the 45 percent approval he saw earlier this week. Of those, 45 percent “strongly” disapprove. Even FiveThirtyEight’s figures show Biden’s approval under 50 percent, standing at 48.9 percent on Friday.

As of Friday, the RealClearPolitics polling average also showed Biden’s approval below 50 percent, sitting at 48.6 percent.

The survey coincides with a Thursday Morning Consult poll, showing a plurality of voters, 43 percent, blaming Biden for the situation in Afghanistan from a domestic standpoint.

Biden has meanwhile struggled to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan as officials fail to reveal the exact number of citizens stranded in the country.

“I don’t know,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday after a reporter asked how many “American citizens” are stranded in Afghanistan.