Both polls show a decline in views of Biden. His presidency has been beset by two crises in recent weeks: the resurgence domestically of the coronavirus and the rocky withdrawal U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan before Biden's deadline. Biden's approval rating has dropped 8 points in the CBS poll from July and is down 4 points in the NBC News poll, which was conducted in April.
These surveys confirm other polls, indicating that the strong approval ratings Biden received when he entered the Oval Office are waning. Biden's approval rating and disapproval rating are both 48 percent according to the latest RealClearPolitics survey. The FiveThirtyEight average, which adjusts polling firm histories for bias to give Biden a positive rating of 49 percent approval, is better than Biden's average disapproval rating at 46 percent. This is higher than any time in Biden’s young presidency.
Despite recent declines, Biden's approval ratings are still higher than his predecessors. In fact, in four years, former President Donald Trump's approval rating has never reached 48 percent according to RealClearPolitics. However, his disapproval rating has remained at 50% or more from the two-month mark during his presidency up until January.
However, Biden's slide is alarming news for Democrats who are now in danger of losing their narrow majority in Congress and will be more vulnerable in the next year's midterm elections.
Despite negative headlines last week about the fall of the U.S.-supported Afghan government faster than expected, Biden's weakness seems to be driven more by events closer home, such as the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases following months of optimism after the nation's vaccination program.
The NBC News poll found that 53 percent of respondents approve the way Biden handles the coronavirus. This is a sharp decline from the 69 percent who voted in April. In an interview with NBC News, Jeff Horwitt, a Democratic surveyster, said that the domestic storm, Covids Delta wave, is causing more problems here at home than President Biden.
While few Americans think that the U.S. withdrawal is progressing well in Afghanistan, most Americans support returning troops to their homeland. CBS News poll results showed that 63 percent of respondents approve of the U.S. pulling out troops. Only 37 percent disagree.
YouGov conducted the CBS News poll online from Aug. 18-20 and surveyed 2,142 adults. The margin of error is +/- 2.3 percentage points.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 adults by phone between Aug. 14-17. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1%.