President Joe Biden's plummeting poll numbers amid the disastrous Afghanistan troop withdrawal have added to Democrat concerns about next year's midterm elections.
Two new surveys released Tuesday indicated the impact of the Taliban reclaiming control of Afghanistan on Biden’s job popularity.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that Biden’s job approval rating was 41%, with 55% disapproving.
Just a week and a half ago, Biden’s approval rating averaged in the low to mid 50s.
Although Democrats (87%) continue to support Biden, only 32% of independents approve of the job the president is doing.
A University of New Hampshire survey, focusing on the key “Live Free or Die” battleground state, showed a 44%-54% approval-disapproval rating. Last month, Biden’s numbers were 50%-49%.
Afghanistan appears to be a significant factor in the New Hampshire poll. Biden received a 48%-46% approval-disapproval rating on foreign policy last month but fell to 36%-60% in August.
Democrat strategists are taking note of the president’s poll numbers.
"Democrats, because of how much is going on and how much they need to navigate, they need to stop thinking about winning in the 2022 elections," one strategist told Fox News.
"Instead, Democrats need to start thinking about the best type of legislation that they can pass to serve the American people."
Another Democrat strategist said that "you never want to see approval ratings go down."
Biden has been barraged by bipartisan criticism since the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Aug. 15.
Television and social media have shown images and video of chaos reigning at the Kabul airport, where U.S. troops are attempting to assist stranded Americans trying to flee the country.
Biden has been accused by both Republicans and some Democrats for underestimating the Taliban while holding to his Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal.
Afghanistan is not the only issue affecting Biden’s approval numbers. Inflation continues to rise, and the country faces a spike in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious delta variant.
An NBC News poll released Sunday found that the president's approval rating on combating coronavirus dropped from 69% in April to 53% earlier this month.
The NBC poll also showed that Biden’s handling of the economy was 47%-49% approve-disapprove, down from 52%-43% in April.
"President Biden's overall approval has taken a turn for the worse due to his awful job performance rating on Afghanistan," Suffolk Political Research Center director David Paleologos told Fox News.
"His approval on immigration and the economy are also upside down. The only issue keeping him remotely in the game is his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he is barely at 50%."
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