A new poll from The Daily Wire uncovered that more Americans believe that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is President Joe Biden’s fault, not Donald Trump’s fault.
The Biden Administration has attempted to deflect blame for the fall-out in Afghanistan, but Americans aren’t buying it. According to The Daily Wire/SurveyMonkey poll, 36 percent of American’s believe that Biden is responsible for the current crisis in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, 21 percent fault Donald Trump. 29 percent of Americans say it’s neither Trump nor Biden’s fault.
According to the poll, which surveyed 1,066 Americans, independents are twice as likely to blame Biden than Trump for the debacle.
In light of the Afghan government’s downfall, Biden attempted to blame Trump for allegedly leaving him with a bad deal that forced the current administration to remove troops. During a national address, Biden took full responsibility for his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan while simultaneously claiming that Trump’s negotiations forced him into pulling U.S. military support for the Afghan government.
“When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 – just a little over three months after I took office,” Biden said. “U.S. forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in [the] country, and the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001.”
A few days later, Biden told ABC News’s George Stephanopolous that he would have withdrawn troops regardless of Trump’s deal.
“So would you have withdrawn troops like this even if President Trump had not made that deal with the Taliban?” Stephanopolous asked.
“I would’ve tried to figure out how to withdraw those troops, yes, because look, George. There is no good time to leave Afghanistan. Fifteen years ago would’ve been a problem, 15 years from now. The basic choice is am I gonna send your sons and your daughters to war in Afghanistan in perpetuity?” Biden said.
In a press statement following Biden’s address, Trump dubbed the way America left Afghanistan “grossly incompetent.”
The same polling data uncovered other surprising details about Biden’s approval ratings. The poll has Biden’s approval rating at 47 percent, just two points higher than his disapproval rating. This new data showcases a five-point drop in Biden’s approval.
One month ago, Biden was averaging a job approval rating of 52 percent and a disapproval rating of 43 percent, according to RealClearPolitics. The steep drop-off in approval came in mid-August, the same time Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
Related: Biden’s Job Approval Tumbles Below 50% After Afghanistan Pullout
Other portions of the poll found that Americans are most concerned with the consequences for Afghan women and girls, as well as Afghan allies, following Biden’s withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The poll found that 84 percent of Americans say they are “concerned about the consequences for Afghan women and girls.” 63 percent of Americans find these consequences “extremely concerning.” Another 81 percent of Americans are concerned about the “persecution of Afghans who helped American troops and officials.” 53 percent of this group find these consequences “extremely concerning.”