When he was riding high in June, registered voters were almost perfectly split on Biden’s ability to manage an international crisis — 44% reported confidence, while 43% reported being uneasy (according to the June 5 YouGov/Economist poll). Those numbers shifted to 37% and 49% by the Aug. 28, with Biden’s net Afghanistan approval a similar minus-13. In the month since, his foreign policy approval has remained below 40%, as has confidence in his ability to manage an international crisis.

Two months after the messy Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden’s approval has continued to drop. In the RCP average, he has slipped from minus-4 net approval on Oct. 1 to minus-9.7 net approval on Oct. 28. Much of that slide can be attributed to independents, who have soured even further on Biden’s pandemic handling. The 40% COVID-19 approval rating he received from the group on Aug. 14 has since fallen to 35%, which is same number of independents who approve of Biden’s overall performance. Meanwhile, overall confidence in his ability to handle an international crisis has held steady at 37%.

Some progressives have suggested that on top of Afghanistan and COVID-19, Biden’s woes stem from insufficiently left-leaning administration policies, costing him liberal and non-white voters. But the polling data doesn’t show anything of the kind. Biden’s approval rating among liberal Democrats was 90% as of Oct. 16, virtually identical to his May 29 rating of 92%. Meanwhile, among black liberals polled in the Oct. 16 survey, 78% approved of Biden, as did 79% of Hispanic liberals. Those numbers represent decreases from the 88% of black liberals who approved of Biden on May 29 and the 83% of Hispanic liberals who did the same.