Biden's approval ratings are in a free fall, with good reason.  Pluralities disapprove of the president's performance, based on the RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight polling averages.  His approval rating is in the mid-40s, a drop of about 10 percentage points from just five weeks ago.  Here are a few reasons, in no particular order:

(1) The Afghanistan fiasco and the terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, killing 13 American soldiers and at least 90 Afghans.

(2) Failure to end the COVID crisis despite the gift of safe and effective vaccines former President Trump provided him through Operation Warp Speed.

(3) The crisis on the southern border, which Biden brought upon us due to his reversal of Trump administration policies.

(4) High levels of crime in major cities across the U.S. while at the same time his progressive allies promote far-left ideas like defunding the police and Critical Race Theory. 

(5) A disappointing August jobs report due to the administration encouraging welfare over work — only 235,000 jobs were added to the economy in August, far off the estimates of 728,000 or more. 

(6) Inflation and record debt due to out-of-control spending, which is getting pushback from even some in his own party.  For example, Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin stated in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal recently that not only will he not support a spending bill approaching $3.5 trillion, but any further spending should be put on pause because of inflation risks and so we have ammunition to deal with future crises.  (Make no mistake: if Manchin follows through, this puts much of Biden's progressive agenda in jeopardy.)

So what does Biden do when he's under pressure?  He lashes out and lies, just as he's done his entire career.  A few days ago, he condemned the Supreme Court after it allowed Texas's pro-life law to take effect.  (Thanks to President Trump and his three appointees.)  On September 3, he falsely claimed he had visited the Pittsburgh synagogue where a shooter killed 11 people.  Nope, didn't happen, as the White House had to later admit.  It was President Trump and several members of his administration who visited.

Biden has a reputation for making false or embellished claims.  He dropped out of his first presidential campaign in 1988 due to plagiarizing speeches by a British politician.  He also admitted to plagiarizing a law school paper.  He also recently acknowledged he was not arrested while visiting Nelson Mandela in prison, as he falsely claimed.

In light of Biden's failed presidency, it's no wonder that a recent poll has former President Trump beating Biden in a hypothetical 2024 race.  

To the extent there is a Trump/Biden rematch, you may find this thought experiment useful to share with your independent/moderate/suburban friends.  Ask them to assume they had the opportunity to pick one of two bus drivers to drive their child to school.  One of them is a good driver, knows where he is going, lays on the horn if somebody crosses his lane, yells an occasional "sit the f--- down" and makes one or two unruly kids cry a time or two.  But he consistently picks them up and drops them off safely and on time.

The other guy has to beg the kids to ride and offers them ice cream before sniffing each one as he climbs aboard, needs to be told how to start the bus, doesn't know where he is or where he's going, constantly looks at his watch, rolls indecisively through red lights and railroad crossings and thinks the bus won't get hit because "c'mon man!"

Yep, we got the second guy driving the bus, unfortunately.  For the sake of the country, this cannot happen again in 2024.

Josh Kantrow is a cyber-security attorney in Chicago.

Image: Pixabay.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.