Public distress over the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and the Covid delta variant have driven Biden’s ratings to a low point for his presidency.
President Joe Biden is having a very bad month. His poll numbers have slipped to their lowest point of his presidency, and much of it has to do with Covid and Afghanistan. The frenzied U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan appears to have shaken voters’ faith in his promise to bring competence and a steady hand back to the White House. Americans across the political spectrum are horrified by images of desperate mobs trying to get to the Kabul airport and flee the country. Biden insists that an element of chaos was inevitable with any U.S. withdrawal. But after 20 years of war and nation-building, the speed with which Afghanistan fell to the Taliban raises painful questions about whether American soldiers died in vain. On the homefront, the highly contagious delta variant of Covid-19 has overwhelmed hospital intensive care units. Fueled by stubbornly high rates of unvaccinated adults in some of the poorest states in the country, the latest Covid crisis has split the country in two. On one side are vaccinated people living with Covid as though it were a seasonal flu. On the other, unvaccinated people, who are succumbing to Covid at rates that are reminiscent of the pandemic’s early days. Biden’s polling problem As America struggles to confront twin crises, polls show voters souring on Biden. The president began the month with an average job approval rating of 51.5%, down from 54% at the start of May. By Tuesday, Biden’s average approval rating had fallen to 47%, the lowest so far in his presidency.
