President Joe Biden's approval rating shows no sign of rebounding in the near future after a slide that has now lasted for three weeks following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The latest poll from Gallup shows Biden's approval is now at a new low of just 43 percent, while 53 percent now disapprove of him. That's the first time a majority of respondents in a Gallup poll have disapproved of the president.
Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight, which tracks Biden's popularity based on analysis of a wide range of polls and its own system of pollster ratings, gave Biden an average disapproval of 49 percent on September 22.
FiveThirtyEight's analysis took into account the most recent Gallup poll, conducted between September 1 and September 17.
According to the poll tracker, Biden's approval entered negative territory on August 30—one day before the final deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
The president's disapproval has outstripped his approval since August 30 and there is currently no indication that the trend is set to change.
Biden enjoyed 46.3 percent approval in FiveThirtyEight's tracker on September 22. This is down from his highest approval rating of 55 percent on January 25 and March 23, during what is often considered a new president's honeymoon period.
Gallup's poll found that Biden's approval has fallen 14 points since he took office eight months ago. That poll was conducted with a random sample of 1,005 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4 percent.
A previous Gallup poll conducted from August 2 to August 17 found the president's approval rating stood at 49 percent. This was basically unchanged from July, when it stood at 50 percent.
The decline in Biden's popularity has come after the controversial drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a bombing at Kabul airport on August 26 that left 13 service members dead.
The U.S. has also experienced a surge in COVID cases, largely driven by the Delta variant, while the administration has taken steps to tackle the virus such as new vaccine requirements for federal employees and contractors.
Gallup found that independent voters have played a key role in the president's declining popularity with just 37 percent now supporting him. This is a major decline from Biden's high point of 61 percent approval among independents. That approval stood at 55 percent in June and has fallen steadily.
Though there are no signs yet of a reversal in Biden's fortunes when it comes to polling, Gallup found that 90 percent of Democrats still approve of the president—higher than former President Barack Obama's 86 percent approval during the same period of his presidency.
Just 6 percent of Republicans approved of Biden in the most recent Gallup poll, down from 12 percent in February.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
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