Biden faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook Afghanistan in a matter of 11 days, essentially winning the war on Aug. 15 – 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces. On Aug. 26, during the U.S. military's mass evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, suicide bombers killed at least 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. military evacuation, which required significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of deadline on Aug. 30, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies, despite Biden’s vows to "get them all out." The State Department said nearly 500 U.S. citizens have been evacuated in the months following the withdrawal and that a handful still remain today.
After downplaying it as "transitory" for months, the Biden administration has begun to recognize skyrocketing inflation as a problem. The consumer price index rose 6.8% in November from a year ago, marking the highest increase since June 1982, when inflation hit 7.1%.
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The inflation rate far exceeded projections by Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers by more than twofold. Last month, the council’s chair, Cecilia Rouse, admitted the council "anticipated that the market would be more open" by now and that they failed to "fully appreciate that the supply chain wouldn’t be able to process the elevated demand for durable goods."
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While Biden has seen tanking approval ratings on issues like the economy and inflation, he has typically enjoyed higher numbers on his handling of COVID-19, but that, too, has slipped over the past year. According to the ABC News/Ipsos poll, 53% approve of Biden’s response to the coronavirus, down from 69% when he first took office, with a considerable drop among independents. Biden repeatedly vowed to "shut down the virus," but the number of deaths under his watch has surpassed that under Trump, despite the prevalence of vaccinations that did not exist under the former president.
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Some Democratic strategists have voiced frustrations with Biden’s unwillingness to shake things up in his administration amid the poor approval ratings during his first year in office. And yet, despite poor poll numbers and the looming midterm elections, Biden has stuck with his team. In fact, not a single official has been fired or demoted over the series of blunders throughout his first year.
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