As the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years this week, a new poll has revealed that nearly 70 percent of likely American voters disapprove of how President Joe Biden has handled the situation in the middle eastern country.
On Monday, The Trafalgar Group released a national poll which revealed that 69.3 percent of respondents either "disapproved" (9.8 percent) or "strongly disapproved" (59.5 percent) of Biden's handling of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
Conversely, a total of 23.1 respondents approved of Biden's decisions, with 10.7 percent strongly approving of Biden's handling of the situation and 12.4 percent only approving of his choices in the region. Meanwhile, 7.5 percent shared that they have "no opinion" on the matter.
The poll also found that close to half of Democrat respondents (48.2 percent total) strongly disapproved (36.9 percent) or disapproved (11.3 percent) of the President's handling of Afghanistan.
Republicans, the poll found, expressed greater criticism of Biden's approach, with a total of 88.8 percent of respondents either strongly disapproving (80.0 percent) or disapproving (8.8 percent) of Biden's actions.
Nonpartisan respondents also were critical of Biden, with 65.8 percent strongly disapproving and 9.0 percent disapproving.
The poll, which was done in partnership with the conservative group Convention of States Action, was conducted Aug. 14-15 with a sample of 1,084 "likely general election voters," with a reported margin error of 2.98 percent.
According to the Convention of States Action President Mark Meckler, the poll's findings prove that "the American people are not buying the lies on Afghanistan."
"This is Saigon, and it's far worse. Our nation has watched the same group of leaders in Washington, D.C., flounder and blunder on foreign policy, on COVID-19, on the border, and on the economy," Meckler said in a statement.
"After spending more than $1 trillion and enduring wounded and dead soldiers, we are confronted with a basecamp for terror, a foreign policy nightmare, and are now less safe here at home. Time for new leadership," he added.
On Monday, Biden addressed the nation and asserted that he made the "right decision" in withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, despite the swift Taliban takeover that ensued afterward.
"I stand squarely behind my decision," Biden contended. "After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.
While he admitted that the hostilities "did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated," Biden blamed Afghani leadership for fleeing the country instead of taking action.
"The Afghan military collapsed … without trying to fight," he explained. "If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision. American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves."
Biden, who is the fourth consecutive President to handle the military situation in Afghanistan, vowed that he would not pass "this responsibility onto a fifth president."
Earlier this year, Biden, against the wishes of his top military commanders, announced the removal of all U.S. troops by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Related:
5 Prayers to Lift Up for Afghanistan
Afghanistan Falls to Taliban Rule as Afghan President Flees the Country
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
