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- 55% of Americans say the Biden administration is not "competent in running the government."
- Biden's approval has now slipped to 38%, with 53% of respondents disapproving of his performance.
- The bad news for Biden largely stems from a variety of challenges including Afghanistan and COVID-19.
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According to a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday, 55% of Americans don't think the Biden administration is "competent in running the government." Only 42% of respondents were in favor of the work being done by the administration.
Biden's approval ratings have also fallen to 38%, with 53% of respondents disapproving of his performance. That's a 4-point drop from less than one month ago, when a September Quinnipiac poll found Biden's approval at 42%. From February through August, Biden's approval hovered between 45% and 50%.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latest results show a significant partisan divide. About 94% of Republicans and 62% of independents said the Biden administration was not competent, while only 13% of Democrats agreed.
At the same time, voters are split right down the middle on whether Biden "cares about average Americans," with 49% of respondents saying he does and 48% saying he doesn't.
Meanwhile, only 28% of respondents said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the direction of the country, while 56% say Biden does not have good leadership skills.
"Battered on trust, doubted on leadership, and challenged on overall competency, President Biden is being hammered on all sides as his approval rating continues its downward slide to a number not seen since the tough scrutiny of the Trump administration," Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said.
On Afghanistan, 28% of Americans think the US did the right thing by withdrawing all troops from the country, while 50% said the US should've withdrawn some, but not all troops. And 15% of respondents say the US shouldn't have withdrawn any troops at all.
On COVID-19, 48% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing, while 50% disapprove, according to the poll.
The Quinnipiac University poll, conducted from October 1 through 4, included 1,326 adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.