Americans Favour Trump Over Biden After Afghanistan Pullout Disaster, Poll Says

© AFP 2023 / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDSIn this file photo taken on December 05, 2020 US President Donald Trump holds up his fists at the end of a rally to support Republican Senate candidates at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia.
In this file photo taken on December 05, 2020 US President Donald Trump holds up his fists at the end of a rally to support Republican Senate candidates at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia. - Sputnik International, 1920, 23.09.2021
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Despite winning the vote in 2020 and showing over 55% approval ratings in the first months of his presidency, Biden's support among Americans took a nosedive this summer amid surging COVID cases, new mask orders, vaccination mandates, troubles at the border, and, not least of all, the chaotic exit from the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden's approval rating has dipped to 46% and has, for the first time since the start of his term, fallen below that of former POTUS Donald Trump, a new Harvard/Harris poll has shown. The president has lost nearly 10% since May 2021, when his approval rating was at its peak. At the same time, Trump's rating bounced back from a slip to 43% in February 2021 and rose to 48%.
The poll was carried out in September in the wake of the Biden administration facing a number of serious issues. They ranged from mounting Delta variant COVID-19 cases, dissatisfaction over the vaccination mandates for federal employees and contractors, looming vaccination mandates for medium and large businesses, a surge of Haitian migrants at the Texas border with Mexico, and to continuing deliberations among the Democrats regarding infrastructure bills and disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.

"The mounting issues on all fronts have led to the surprise conclusion that Trump is now seen as being as good a president as Biden, suggesting the honeymoon is being replaced with buyer's remorse", Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard/Harris survey, commented on its results in an interview with The Times.

Biden's allies in the current administration also rank below some members of Donald Trump's team. Namely, 55% of respondents found Mike Pence to be a better vice president than Kamala Harris, while 63% also believed that Mike Pompeo fared better as secretary of state compared to Antony Blinken.
Another poll, carried out by Gallup in the first half of September, showed even lower ratings for Biden with 43% of Americans approving and 53% disapproving of his performance in the Oval Office. The poll also suggests that voters, who do not align with any party, were the prime source of Biden's drop in popularity. Only one-third of independents, a new low for Biden, expressed support for the current president versus two-thirds at its high.
The Gallup poll additionally suggests that Americans approve of Vice President Kamala Harris' work significantly more than that of Biden – 49% versus 43%. In addition, an overwhelming majority of US residents, nearly 70%, disapprove of the way the country is currently being governed.

Afghanistan Withdrawal Undermines Biden's Ratings

The polls were carried out hot on the heels of the wrap up of the trouble-ridden American pullout from Afghanistan. Even before the process was concluded, the Taliban* managed to seize power in the country, bulldozing through the defences of the Kabul government installed with the help of the US and NATO and under the supervision of the UN. Washington claimed it did not anticipate such a rapid advance by the insurgents.
To add to the trouble, the US failed to organise the timely evacuation of its citizens from the country, as well as Afghans who helped both US and NATO forces and feared retribution from the Taliban. Washington was unable to get them all out in time before the insurgent group closed the skies to international travel. The evacuation was also shadowed by the deaths of 13 US servicemen and around 200 civilians in terror attacks by Daesh-K*.
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.09.2021
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Trying to respond to the attack and prevent a new one, the US military carried out an airstrike in Kabul, which, however, only killed 10 civilians, including seven children. The Pentagon later admitted that the strike was a mistake, despite initially claiming to have killed Daesh-K terrorists.
*The Taliban and Daesh-K (also known as ISIS-K) are terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other countries.
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