Here’s a question for alert readers: when was the last RCP-tracked poll that put Joe Biden’s job-approval deficit in single digits? Contemplate that for a moment before I answer it, especially in light of today’s numbers. Byron York noticed that Biden’s floor is now officially below 40%:

Biden job approval dips below 40 percent for first time in RealClearPolitics average of polls: 39.8% approve, 54.4% disapprove. https://t.co/68MeU1ximM pic.twitter.com/SBL7e1LOCQ

— Byron York (@ByronYork) February 9, 2022

That 15-point gap didn’t come out of nowhere. The last national poll tracked by RCP with a single-digit gap in Biden’s job approval came last week from the Economist/YouGov tracking poll (45/49). If that was the good news, relatively speaking, the bad news is that the same tracking poll just delivered a ten-point negative approval rating at 41/51.

Before that, Biden last got a single-digit negative gap from the Reuters/Ipsos poll in late January (45/50). That’s bad news again, though, because that series’ next iteration delivered a 41/56 job approval for a -15 point gap. The last poll to show Biden with a single-digit negative rating that hasn’t yet been contradicted by a more recent iteration came from — wait for it — Fox News almost a month ago (47/52, -5).

Next trivia question: when was the last poll to show Biden with any kind of positive job approval rating? That would be a mid-December Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll, with IBD/TIPP giving Biden a tie a week earlier. (The latest IBD/TIPP rating is 38/48). CNN had Biden at +1 back in October, but that’s as good as it’s been for Biden.

The trend lines have been bad ever since Biden’s abandonment of thousands of Americans in Afghanistan triggered a confidence-crisis cascade among voters. Prior to that, Biden’s honeymoon had waned significantly but showed no signs of popular-support collapse. Ever since then, Biden’s approval has rarely been above water, and every botched move adds to the plunge’s momentum.

A new report on the Afghanistan disgrace won’t help matters. Andrew Malcolm points out how it reinforces why the vote of no confidence in Biden is justified:

The report documents a profound lack of preparation for the worse by the Biden administration at every stage. The word “Benghazi” immediately leaps to mind. On the anniversary of 9/11 in 2012, in the fourth year of the Obama-Biden administration, violent demonstrations broke out across the Mideast, including the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt.

That night, a mob assaulted and burned the consulate in Benghazi, where security had been cut by Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. Four Americans were killed and no rescue was attempted because no preparations had been made.

The Afghan report does not accuse anyone by name. But the timing of its details, for instance, shows that Biden had been told in July that a quick collapse of Afghan forces was likely, even as he said publicly the exact opposite.

Facing panicked mobs at the Kabul Airport and unknown security threats, U.S. troops were also hampered, unbelievably, by thousands of special requests from the Biden White House and members of Congress, all safely back in Washington. They wanted the hard-pressed troops to find and rescue certain Afghans in the throng, typically their friends.

This is precisely why Joe Biden’s floor still hasn’t materialized. He’s an incompetent fool in whom few still have any confidence, and none should.

Speaking of the disgrace of Afghanistan, our friend John Ondrasik has a new episode out of his podcast series, “Meet the Heroes.” This will enrage you.

Imagine being an American Citizen and given this horrific choice by @SecBlinken & his state dept:

Pick which of your family members fleeing Afghanistan to save, and which to be murdered by the Taliban.

Meet the Heroes Ep. 2 – Mike Brewer

Full ITRVW https://t.co/oEYTlUyo3f pic.twitter.com/Ybfqghus7x

— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) February 8, 2022