Washington, Aug 19 (IANS): US President Joe Biden's average approval ratinghas tumbled below 50 per cent for the first time since he took office in January this year, multiple polls have reveaked.

The results came amid criticism over his administration's messy withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, after which the Taliban's swift takeover of the country ensued, as well as a resurgence of new Covid-19 cases and deaths across the US, reports Xinhua news agency.

As of Wednesday, Biden's approval rating fell to 49.3 per cent in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls, with those disapproving of his job performance hitting a new high of 44.2 per cent, up from a little over 34 per cent at the end of January when he just entered the White House.

Meanwhile, RealClearPolitics gave him a 49.6 per cent approval rating on average during the 10-day period from August 7 to 17, while the disapproval rating stood at 47.2 per cent.

Even worse, data from a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that Biden's approval rating dropped from 53 per cent on August 13 to 46 per cent on Tuesday, a dip that seemed directly tied to the chaos happening in Afghanistan, for which the President, while defending the drawdown of US troops, admitted he would be criticised.

On the pandemic front, the end of presidential honeymoon for Biden was also backed by numbers.

New coronavirus cases are up 52 per cent nationally compared to two weeks ago, according to The New York Times.

Deaths and hospitalisations increased 87 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively, during that same period, the data showed.