Biden's approval rating tumbles below 50 pct for 1st time during presidency

WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden's average approval rating tumbled below 50 percent for the first time since he took office, multiple polls have shown.

The results came amid criticism over his administration's messy withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, after which the Taliban's stunning takeover of the country ensued, as well as a nationwide surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths.

As of Wednesday, Biden's approval rating fell to 49.3 percent in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls, with those disapproving of his job performance hitting a new high of 44.2 percent, up from a little over 34 percent at the end of January when he just entered the White House.

Meanwhile, RealClearPolitics gave him a 49.6 percent approval rating on average during the 10-day period from Aug 7 to 17, while the disapproval rating stood at 47.2 percent.

Even worse, data from a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that Biden's approval rating dropped from 53 percent on Friday to 46 percent on Tuesday, a dip that seemed directly tied to the chaos happening in Afghanistan, for which the president, while defending the drawdown of US troops, admitted he would be criticized.

On the pandemic front, the end of presidential honeymoon for Biden was also backed by numbers. New coronavirus cases are up 52 percent nationally compared to two weeks ago, according to The New York Times.

Deaths and hospitalizations increased 87 percent and 60 percent, respectively, during that same period, the data showed.