52% of voters think Biden should resign over Afghanistan debacle
A new poll reveals that a majority of Americans believe President Joe Biden should resign over his handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
A poll released by Rasmussen Reports Wednesday found that 52% of likely voters think Biden should resign due to his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. By contrast, 39% of likely voters do not think Biden should resign, and the remaining 9% said they were not sure. The survey sampled the opinions of 1,000 likely U.S. voters and was conducted from Aug. 30-31.
The Rasmussen poll is the latest example of the American public’s cool reception to the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghanistan pullout. As of Wednesday, Biden’s approval rating in the RealClear Politics aggregate of polls had reached a record low of 45.8%. At the same time, his disapproval rating was measured at 49.2%, the highest since he took office in January.
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Biden has faced intense criticism for his administration's execution of the Afghanistan withdrawal, which has resulted in the Taliban taking control of the country. Additionally, many Americans who would like to leave Afghanistan remain in the country after the U.S. military completed its evacuation of American citizens and Afghan allies earlier this week. The Biden administration has estimated that between 100 and 200 Americans remain in the country, vowing that the State Department will somehow work to secure their release.
At least 24 Sacramento-area students are among those confirmed to be stranded in the South Asian country. The Sacramento Bee quoted San Juan Unified school district staff as saying that 24 students, down from the initial estimate of 150 students, had not returned to campuses since the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
Also among the stranded Americans is a pregnant American from California, whom Taliban militants kicked in the stomach as she tried to flee Kabul with her husband and father, Fox News reported.
“She was kicked in the stomach, but she was kicked in the stomach well after — as she got through the first checkpoint where she remained for hours, waiting for those people at the south point to supposedly come out and get her,” U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., was quoted as saying.
“It wasn’t until it was clear they’d closed, [that] they weren’t taking anyone else for quite a while, that finally she accepted that she was going to have to go back and hide in her apartment,” Issa added.
Several members of Congress have already called for Biden’s resignation following the Afghanistan withdrawal. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, introduced a resolution calling on the president to step down. He introduced additional resolutions calling for the resignations of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
“America faces a great division coming into this era of unspeakable grief as we look upon the failure of our executive branch to execute a well-planned withdrawal of American forces, citizens, allies, and weaponry in Afghanistan,” Higgins said in a statement Tuesday. “This administration has abandoned its oath to the American people, and it is the right thing to do for President Biden, Secretary Austin, and Chairman Milley to step down.”
Higgins’ resolution laid out some of the most frequent criticisms of the Afghanistan withdrawal, specifically that “the Biden administration allowed billions of taxpayer dollars in military equipment to fall into the hands of the Taliban, including small arms, body armor, land vehicles, helicopters and drones” and “jeopardized the safety of United States citizens and Afghan allies stranded in Afghanistan by willingly sharing their identities with Taliban officials.” The resolution calling on Biden to resign has received the support of 25 additional House Republicans.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another member of the Freedom Caucus, has introduced three articles of impeachment against Biden, including one accusing him of dereliction of duty over his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Greene introduced the articles of impeachment on Aug. 20, before the final evacuation and the Aug. 26 suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 10 Marines, two Army soldiers, one Navy Corpsman and some 170 Afghan civilians.
According to Greene, Biden “dishonored the sacrifices made by every American soldier who fought in the 20-year war, especially those who gave their life for the cause. Biden left behind over 10,000 American citizens to face the terrifying rule of the Taliban as they impose Sharia law across the country. No commander-in-chief should leave Americans behind in the aftermath of a failure.”
“Joe Biden failed to secure the extraction of thousands of American civilians and Afghan allies before and during the withdrawal between August 14 and August 16, 2021, putting thousands of lives in imminent danger,” the impeachment article alleging dereliction of duty reads. “Joe Biden abandoned tens of thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies stuck in Afghanistan at danger of being captured, tortured, held hostage for ransom, or killed.”
The Rasmussen poll also asked voters whether they agreed with a statement from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who remarked that “Joe Biden deserves to be impeached because he’s abandoned thousands of Afghans who fought with us and he’s going to abandon some American citizens because he capitulated to the Taliban to a 31 August deadline.”
While the results of that portion of the poll remain available exclusively to Rasmussen Reports Platinum Service members, Newsmax reported that a majority of likely voters support impeaching Biden over the Afghanistan pullout if he does not resign. Sixty percent of those surveyed support impeachment while 37% oppose.
Should Biden resign or be removed from office, Vice President Kamala Harris would assume the presidency. The Rasmussen Poll asked voters “how qualified is Harris to assume the duties of being president?” a plurality of likely voters (47%) believe that Harris is “not at all qualified” to assume the presidency while an additional 11% believe that she is “not very qualified.”
Twenty-five percent of likely voters think Harris is “somewhat qualified” to become president while 11% see the vice president as “very qualified” for the role of commander-in-chief. With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, Biden’s resignation and removal from office remain highly unlikely.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
