More than half of Americans think President Joe Biden should resign over his handling of the chaotic evacuation of the Afghan capital Kabul.
Conservative pollster Rasmussen found that 55 per cent of voters agreed the 78-year-old Democrat should go — with 41 per cent concurring "strongly". Just 39 per cent thought Biden should stay in office, 29 per cent agreeing strongly.
Rasmussen also found that 60 per cent of likely voters thought Biden should have kept troops in Afghanistan — in further breach of the peace accord with the Taliban* signed by his predecessor Donald Trump, which stipulated a May 1 withdrawal deadline.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee this week that he had advised Biden to leave 2,500 personnel in the country.
The Biden administration has been accused of ignoring warnings that the Afghan National Army would collapse after the US military withdrawal, leaving the Taliban to sweep across the country and enter Kabul as they did in August.
The White House response was to order a hurried evacuation of its embassy and staff in the city. That rapidly turned into a panicked mass exodus as thousands of Westerners tried to flee via Kabul airport, along with tens of thousands of Afghans seeking asylum in the US and other countries.
A series of deadly incidents, culminating in a Daesh*-Khorasan (Daesh-K) suicide bombing outside the airport gates left over 180 people dead, including 13 US service personnel.
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Meanwhile, The Hill reported that Vice-President Kamala Harris' approval rating was running at 49 per cent — equal with public disapproval — in a Gallup poll, six points above Biden's 43 per cent.
Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec ventured that the poll was part of attempts to portray Harris, who dropped out of the 2020 Democratic Party primary race before it began due to lack of support — as a credible mid-term replacement for Biden.
* The Taliban and Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) are banned as terrorist organisations in a number of countries including Russia.