Poll: Majority of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of Afghanistan

A majority of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by The Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action, found that 69 percent of polled Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the U.S.’s military presence in the war-torn country, with only 23 percent approving.

When broken down by party, 48 percent of Democrats disapprove of the president’s handling of the situation, while almost 40 percent of those polled gave him positive marks.

But the gap was much wider among Republicans: Nearly 89 percent said they disapprove of the job Biden is doing when it comes to Afghanistan, with only 7 percent saying they approve.

The Trafalgar Group was the only nonpartisan polling company to predict former President Trump would win Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2016, but since then has faced some criticism over its methodology.

FiveThirtyEight gives Trafalgar an A-minus rating, the same as polls conducted by CBS News/The New York Times.

The most recent poll was conducted Aug. 14-15 among 1,084 likely voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.98 percentage points.

The poll was conducted just as the Taliban was completing its takeover of the Afghan capital Kabul.

Taliban fighters stepped up their military offensive in recent weeks as the U.S. troop withdrawal neared its end. President Biden previously said the mission in Afghanistan would wrap up by the end of this month.

Politicians in Washington are now debating what went wrong with the U.S. withdrawal, and who is to blame for the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Republicans have been quick to point the finger at Biden, criticizing his decision to pull troops after almost 20 years in the country.

The Biden administration, however, is defending its actions. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday argued that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would have occurred even if U.S. forces remained deployed in the region.