CHICAGO, US

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is now lower than his disapproval rating, a first in his eight-month presidency, according to a new Gallup poll. 

The poll, conducted in the first half of September, showed that while 44% of Americans approved of Biden's performance, 53% did not, with 4% offering no opinion.

In the eight Gallup polls done since he was inaugurated on Jan. 20 this year, Biden did his best in the first poll, when his approval rating was 20 percentage points higher than his disapproval rating. By July, his approval rating was just five percentage points higher than his disapproval rating, and by August, there was just a one percentage point gap.

By comparison, Donald Trump, at this point in his presidency, was further “underwater” in a Gallup poll, with just 37% approval. Democrat Barack Obama was at 52% approval and George W. Bush, fresh from his handling of the 9/11 attacks, was at 76% approval.

In the latest Biden poll, his approval rating among his own party, the Democrats, is still high, at 90%. But that is tied for the lowest approval among that group during his presidency. Approval by Republicans sank to a new low, at just 6%.

Biden is being criticized for how his administration has handled the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan and for an ongoing migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border.

On some specific issues, Biden does still have a majority of support, including his economic proposals, and there is still confidence in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, although that has declined from 65% approval in March to 51% approval now.