President Joe Biden’s job approval rating has plummeted in the latest ABC News / Washington Post poll amid widespread disapproval of his treatment of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. including part of the blame on Biden for the conditions that led to the devastating attack on Kabul airport last week.
Overall, in a sad coda that amounted to nearly $ 20 trillion of $ 2 trillion, only 36% of Americans said the war was worth fighting for. There was 77% support for the U.S. withdrawal; the sticky point is how Biden handled it: 60% reject it.
Overwhelmed by the crisis, its overall job approval rating in this survey, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, has dropped to 44%, with 51% disapproval: 6 percentage points in approval and 9 in disapproval since late June. The intensity has been decidedly negative: many more now reject it, 42%, than 25%.
See the PDF for complete results, graphs and tables.
44% believe the withdrawal left the United States less within reach of terrorism, while only 8% believe the country is safer as a result. (The rest see no difference.) One factor: Nearly half, 46 percent, are not confident that the United States can identify and prevent potential terrorists in the ranks of Afghan refugees.
Still, another result marks a humanitarian boost despite this concern for security: Sixty-eight percent support the United States hosting Afghan refugees after they have been selected for security, compared to 27% against. It is a much larger support than that expressed by Americans in accepting Syrian refugees and other refugees from the Middle East in 2015, 43%.
Biden and guilt
Only 26% of the population favors the withdrawal of American forces and approves of how Biden treated her. Sixty-nine percent, on the other hand, express criticism: 52% are in favor of retiring, but disapprove of the way Biden handled it and 17% oppose retiring.
Another measure simply asks whether Americans approve or disapprove of how Biden has handled the situation in Afghanistan. In this sense, 30% approve it and, as noted, 60% reject it.
In addition, 53% say their management of the withdrawal is to blame for the suicide attack that killed 13 members of the US service and more than 170 Afghans last week: a big blame, 38% and a good amount, 15%.
Approval
Biden took office with 67% approval for his transition management, but this quickly declined to 52% job approval in April, remaining roughly stable at 50% in the June and dropped to 44% now.
In poll data from the Harry Truman administration, only two presidents have obtained a lower approval rating at this time in their terms: Donald Trump, with 37% in August 2017, and Gerald Ford, also with 37%, in March 1975.
There are some dramatic shortcomings in Biden’s overall approval: 18 points more among women than men (53% to 35%), 23 points more among members of racial and ethnic minority groups than whites (59% vs. 36%). %), 24 points more among adults with a postgraduate degree compared to those who did not have a university degree (63% against 39%) and 28 points more among urban residents versus those in rural areas (52% versus 24%; 43% in the suburbs).
Turns out since June, Biden approval falls especially among men (low 10 points), urban residents (low 10), independents (low 9), Democrats (low 8) and slightly among whites (low 6). It is essentially unaltered among women, suburban residents, Republicans, and racial or ethnic minorities.
The fall among men reflects their much higher likelihood of blaming the August 26 airport bombing for Biden’s handling of the withdrawal: 62% of men agree with that view, compared with 45% of women.
Supporters
The political differences are very strong. Biden has only 8% general approval from Republicans and 36% from independents, compared to 86% from Democrats. It is 13% among conservatives, 53% of moderates and 69% of liberals.
The president’s rating falls especially sharply among Democrats when it comes specifically to his handling of the situation in Afghanistan. Here he gets 56% approval within his own party, 30 points less than for his overall performance.
Partisan differences are shrinking to another extent: majorities across the political spectrum support the acceptance of selected Afghan refugees: 79% of Democrats, 71% of independents, and fewer, but still 56% of Republicans . The results are similar in ideology, with refugee acceptance supported by 80% of liberals, 77% of moderates and 58% of conservatives. Support is lower, although still majority, among less educated adults: 54% of those who have not gone beyond high school.
Methodology
This ABC News / Washington Post survey was conducted by landline and mobile phone from August 29 to September. 1, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. The results have a sampling error margin of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Party divisions are 30-24-36%, Democrats-Republicans-Independents.
The survey was produced by ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Maryland. See details on the survey methodology here.