Biden average approval rating dips below 50 percent for first time in office

President Biden’s approval rating has fallen to 49.3 percent in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls, the first time Biden has dipped below a 50 percent approval rating since entering office. 

Biden’s approval rating has been heading down in the FiveThirtyEight figures. He had hit 55.1 percent on March 22 and 52.6 percent as recently as July 27. 

The new dip comes amid negative headlines about the U.S. exit from Afghanistan and troubling numbers of COVID-19 cases. 

More people do approve of Biden’s job performance than disapprove in the FiveThirtyEight average.

Just 44.1 percent disapprove of Biden’s job performance as of Aug. 18, according to the metric. But that is also a new high. At the end of January, Biden’s disapproval rating was just 34 percent. 

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Biden’s approval rating now sits at 49.4 percent, with 46.8 percent disapproving.

Monday was the first day Biden had fallen below 50 percent in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

The new calculations from FiveThirtyEight do not take into account the most recent developments in Afghanistan, where the capital city of Kabul fell to Taliban fighters on Sunday, completing a stunning collapse of the U.S.-backed government.

They do, however, include the declining numbers the president has received for his handling of the pandemic, which has become a larger issue in recent weeks as the highly infectious delta variant drives cases up nationally.