President Joe Biden’s job approval fell below 50% for the first time last week, according to a poll conducted by The Daily Wire, and now, according to a CBS News poll released Monday, many Americans believe that Biden and his team botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left thousands stranded and the Taliban in charge after nearly two decades of armed conflict.
Most Americans still support the Biden administration’s decision to pull troops from Afghanistan, CBS noted, “but not like this.”
The poll noted that 44% of Americans believe the withdrawal has gone “very badly,” and 30% believe the withdrawal went “somewhat badly,” leaving an astounding 74% of Americans with a poor view of the removal of U.S. troops.
“Public reaction to what’s happened there is decidedly negative, with Americans now fearing wider repercussions from a heightened threat of terrorism,” CBS News said. “Back home, the public weighs in with rough judgments on President Biden — not only for his handling of it, but with his overall presidential approval rating dropping substantially, and broader views of his qualities like effectiveness and competence taking hits along with it.”
Biden and his team have tried to connect the withdrawal to the decision to pull troops from Afghanistan — rationalizing what happened after the decision was made to withdraw by noting that Biden had no choice but full withdrawal or open war with the Taliban — but the CBS News poll found that the “public draws a distinction between the desire to leave Afghanistan and how it is handled.”
“And even though support for withdrawing has dipped since the spring, those who disapprove say it’s because the situation wasn’t handled well — more so than they think troops now ought to stay,” CBS News found.
Americans do believe that Biden’s job was complicated by the Afghan government’s collapse and the Taliban’s swift takeover, even though it appears the Biden administration was warned about those difficulties far earlier than they said.
Over the weekend, the situation in Kabul disintegrated further with Americans trapped in Kabul and the surrounding area told that they should no longer attempt to get to the airport to board evacuation flights. Biden also admitted that ISIS has threatened a terrorist attack near the airport.
“These troops and innocent civilians at the airport face the risk of attack from ISIS-K from a distance, even though we’re moving back the perimeter significantly,” he said. “We’re working hard and as fast as we can to get people out. That’s our mission. That’s our goal.”
The White House later contradicted Biden, noting that the perimeter has not been expanded.
The Taliban also demanded, early Monday, that the Biden administration stick to its proposed timeline and withdraw all United States forces by August 31st. It is not clear what the Taliban will do if the U.S. is not fully withdrawn, but the announcement greatly complicates Biden’s insistence that the U.S. will stay until all Americans are rescued.