During his 2020 campaign, President Joe Biden joined President Donald Trump and vowed to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. In the first few months of Biden’s presidency, a withdrawal seemed to be a no-brainer.
In April 2021, only 16 percent of voters wanted to stay in Afghanistan. 69 percent of all voters — and 84 percent of Democrats — supported it.
Last weekend, only 49 percent of voters support Biden’s withdrawal.
Voters didn’t suddenly change their minds about the idea of the withdrawal — they overwhelmingly disapprove of Biden’s execution, which critics have attacked as chaotic.
For what it’s worth, here’s the data.
Last weekend 38 percent of voters supported keeping troops in Afghanistan beyond Sept. 11, 2021, compared to 16 percent in April 2021.
However, 51 percent of voters disapproved of Biden’s handling of Afghanistan, when asked specifically about the 46th president.
Most people support some form of the withdrawal, but they take issue with Biden’s particular execution — which has caused panic and a complete collapse of the government the United States spent 20 years and over a trillion dollars supporting.
This poll was conducted between Aug. 13 and Aug. 16.
Morning Consult reported: “Just over a third of voters (36 percent) said they’d heard “a lot” about the Taliban taking control of parts of Afghanistan by the time the survey was concluded, but most seemed to be aware of the rocky American withdrawal.”
That didn’t stop the mainstream media from rushing to his defense.
After Biden’s speech, MSNBC host Nicole Wallace remarked, “95% of the American people will agree with everything he just said. 95% of the press covering this White House will disagree.”
MSNBC host @NicolleDWallace: "95% of the American people will agree with everything [President Biden] just said. 95% of the press covering this White House will disagree." pic.twitter.com/UzLr6DPyPz
— The Recount (@therecount) August 16, 2021
It remains to be seen whether voters actually warmed back to Biden after his speech.
Politicians have given the speech mixed reviews at best, but voters have not been polled yet.
In any case, Biden’s honeymoon is clearly over.