Even half of Democrats are unimpressed by Biden's Afghanistan endgame

The American public is "broadly critical" of how the Biden administration has handled the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a new Pew Research Center poll reveals. In fact, just 26 percent of respondents said they believe the administration has done "an excellent or good job" winding down the 20-year operation.

What's more, fewer than half — 43 percent — of those in President Biden's own party rated his Afghanistan performance as "excellent" or "good." Otherwise, 55 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners — a slight majority — were rather unimpressed; 40 percent rated the administration as having only done a "fair" job, while 15 percent opted to designate the endgame diplomacy as "poor."

Overall, however, 54 percent of respondents said the decision to leave Afghanistan was the right one, with 42 percent disagreeing.

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Pew Research Center surveyed 10,348 adults from Aug. 23-29, 2021. The majority of interviewing was completed before the Aug. 26 Kabul airport bombing, and all of it before the evacuation's end. See more results at Pew Research Center.