--:-- [Upbeat music fades out]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans' views on Afghanistan and President Biden have seen some significant shifts.
--:-- John Bickley: A Daily Wire exclusive poll asked Americans what they think about President Biden's handling of Afghanistan. We'll talk about the results and what it could mean for midterm elections.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, August 19th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration is now pushing for COVID booster shots for most Americans. What's driving the new policy, and how are other countries handling the issue?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the rise of the Taliban has major implications both regionally and abroad. We'll look at Russia's complicated history in the region, and what they and other countries stand to lose or gain.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This show is sponsored by ZipRecruiter. According to a survey, over two-thirds of Americans are planning to travel this summer. This means that airlines, restaurants, and more have been ramping up their hiring.
--:-- John Bickley: Who do they turn to? ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter's technology finds qualified candidates for your job, and you can easily invite your top choices to apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And right now, you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ziprecruiter.com slash wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In recent days, a growing number of polls have shown a notable dip in President Biden's approval ratings amid the collapse of Afghanistan.
--:-- John Bickley: An exclusive Daily Wire poll of over a thousand Americans conducted by SurveyMonkey found similar results and shows a growing number of voters blame the president for his role in the crisis.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here to break down those numbers is Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So let's talk about the poll. Where does the president stand?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, to put it simply, he's losing ground. 47% of Americans approve of the job he's doing and 45% disapprove.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, at a glance, that sounds all right, but when you dig into the numbers a bit more, it's a sign of rapidly declining support, actually.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In July, Biden's approval rating was at 52%, so that's a significant drop to 47 in just a few weeks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it is. The numbers actually get worse for the president the more you look into the data.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: When you look at how people rate his performance in key areas, for example, foreign policy, just 32% approve of the job he's doing, while 55% disapprove.
--:-- John Bickley: On immigration, 32% approve, while over half of Americans disapprove.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And overall, Americans are twice as likely to say they strongly disapprove of his job as president as they are to say they strongly approve of it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, that last part is important because it shows that the intensity of the American public is not necessarily on Biden's side right now.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So let's focus in on the withdrawal. How are people feeling about that?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, we asked about that specifically, and there's been a major shift in opinion over the past few months.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We actually saw a nearly 30-point decline in American support of a military withdrawal from Afghanistan just since April.
--:-- John Bickley: Oh, wow. Support for leaving was at 73% then. Now, just 45% said the U.S. should continue its troop withdrawal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So that's a major shift.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And in the poll, we asked people why. What did they say?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, this part was interesting. There were a few main reasons people selected.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: First were concerns about what would happen to the Afghani people, mainly women and those who'd worked with the U.S. during the war.
--:-- John Bickley: After that, people were most concerned by the potential return of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the region.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Overall, 62% of Americans now think a terrorist attack against the U.S. and our allies is more likely.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a lot of people are concerned about their safety here at home.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Who are Americans holding responsible?
--:-- Georgia Howe: The number one answer to that question was Joe Biden, and it wasn't really that close.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 36 said he was responsible for the crisis while 20% blamed President Trump, and the other 44% said they were unsure or said neither was to blame.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And just to be clear, this is a nationwide poll. This is not just a poll of Daily Wire readers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's correct. This was a representative sample of U.S. adults that actually had more Democrats than Republicans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's worth noting that 44 percent of those surveyed said they voted for Biden compared to just 34 percent who supported Trump.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So according to the data, a good number of independents are unhappy with the president right now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And do we expect this dip in approval to affect midterms?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It's hard to say right now. Typically, foreign policy doesn't play a role in midterm elections, but this story is unique in that people now view their own safety as being more at risk.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Historically, when the president's approval ratings dip ahead of midterms, the party as a whole suffers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So that would be a bad sign for Democrats in 2022.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Keep in mind, the party controlling the White House almost always performs poorly in midterms, and that's without a crisis like this.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: One thing that jumped out from the poll is the number of people saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. So traditionally in the first year of a president's term, there's a certain level of optimism among the general public.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But according to this poll, just 28 percent of Americans say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, again, that's going to be a key factor to keep an eye on as midterms approach.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it is.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for coming on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime. Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, the Biden administration says most Americans now need COVID booster shots. If you're with Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, you're paying too much.
--:-- John Bickley: Switching to Pure Talk saves the average family over $800 a year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Go to puretalk.com, find the right plan for you, and enter promo code WIRE to save 50% off your first month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it wants most Americans to receive COVID booster shots.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Charlotte, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Glad to be here. So COVID booster shots, what's the latest news on this?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yeah, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday that they are recommending a third dose of the COVID vaccine for people eight months after the second dose.
--:-- John Bickley: Americans first up to get the boosters will be nursing home residents and healthcare workers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Okay. Officials are saying that Americans who got the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will need to get another dose as the vaccine effectiveness goes down and to be protected from the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the initial strain.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What can you tell us about the most recent data on boosters?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: A couple things. Like, just this Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted initial data to the Food and Drug Administration that they say supports giving another dose of the vaccine.
--:-- John Bickley: According to officials, those who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may need another dose too, but they're waiting on results from a trial to make that recommendation.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Both Pfizer and BioNTech say results from their trial show that the third dose resulted in, quote, significantly higher neutralizing antibodies against the initial strain of the virus compared to the levels after the two-dose primary series.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay. They say it also helped against the beta variant and the delta variant.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So the third dose of Pfizer protects against those other variants too? That's what it looks like at least according to their data.
--:-- John Bickley: The company is planning to seek an approval of a third dose for people over the age of 16 depending on the full FDA approval since the vaccines are still under emergency use authorization right now.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right. Dr. Francis Collins, the National Institutes of Health director, said Sunday that the vaccine might be less effective over time and the Delta variant is an added factor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with healthcare providers, as well as people in nursing homes and then gradually moving forward.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: We have not made that decision yet because right now the data we have from the U.S. says people who are vaccinated are fully protected.
--:-- John Bickley: Even against Delta, when you're talking about severe disease, you're not going to end up in the hospital if you had that vaccination.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: What about other countries? Are any others rolling out booster shots?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, a few, which is a bit surprising because the World Health Organization recently called on countries to hold off on boosters until the end of September so that doses can go to places with low vaccination rates.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: On Wednesday, President Biden addressed the global implications of boosters.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, know there's some world leaders who say America shouldn't get a third shot until other countries got their first shot.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: I disagree. We can take care of America and help the world at the same time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In Israel, however, they've already started giving people third doses.
--:-- John Bickley: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have also announced plans to eventually give boosters to certain people.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: In the U.S., the FDA authorized a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for immunocompromised individuals last week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We've heard a lot about vaccine mandates rolling out across the country.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: With the booster shot, it seems like this might get even more complicated.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, and the broader question here is whether a third dose recommendation from the Biden administration will even be effective.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: After the CDC reversed its guidance last month, many Americans are feeling hesitant to trust the health officials in power.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. There's a lot of tension surrounding the vaccine right now, especially with mandates.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So we're expecting to see that escalate even more with the possibility of another shot.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Charlotte, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Anytime. Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The fall of Afghanistan into Taliban control has political implications for many countries, including Russia.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss is Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Debra Haynes.
--:-- Debra Haynes: Debra, great to have you on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hi there. So, Debra, the situation in Afghanistan is affecting several world powers, including, as you've noted in your reporting, Russia in particular.
--:-- Debra Haynes: Yes, of course. Well, during the former Soviet Union, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan back in 1979.
--:-- John Bickley: And they were there for 10 years.
--:-- Debra Haynes: And ultimately, the Soviets withdrew. And the government that they backed then collapsed about three years later.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it really was kind of seen at the time as the sort of the Soviets' Vietnam. A real failure of intervention.
--:-- Debra Haynes: And then suddenly you've got this situation now with the U.S., the UK, other NATO allies having gone into Afghanistan themselves and spent 20 years, twice as long as the Soviets did, and then retreating.
--:-- John Bickley: And then the government that they backed, it didn't last three years. It barely lasted three hours when the Taliban reached Kabul before it collapsed.
--:-- Debra Haynes: Russia has one of the only remaining functioning embassies in Afghanistan and supposedly a somewhat positive relationship with the Taliban.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Does Russia have a vested interest in the West failing in Afghanistan?
--:-- Debra Haynes: Not so much failing in Afghanistan because obviously an unstable Afghanistan is not good news for Russia.
--:-- John Bickley: Russia obviously opposes Islamist extremists in the same way as the West do.
--:-- Debra Haynes: So there's like a mutual interest there to not have al-Qaeda Islamic state groups like that roaming around with a sort of a security vacuum in Afghanistan, so close to Russia's borders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's more to do with the failure of the West and the fact that for the last 20 years, the U.S., the U.K. and others have been sucked into Afghanistan, have expended so much resource in blood, treasure and brainpower to very little effect.
--:-- Debra Haynes: That's been a strategic advantage for Russia. And other countries have a stake in Afghanistan as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Are any in particular impacted by the situation?
--:-- Debra Haynes: Yes, I mean, what happens in Afghanistan, it's not just affects that country, it's across the whole region. And in particular, Pakistan, that's the country that's most closely and intimately involved in Afghanistan.
--:-- John Bickley: And there's an awful lot of suspicions about which side the Pakistanis have been supporting.
--:-- Debra Haynes: They've obviously got these deep ties with the Taliban there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You look at the Taliban advance and the strategy that they've implemented over the last few months, and in particular in the last few days, in terms of sweeping across the country and winning over different ethnic groups.
--:-- Debra Haynes: There's, you know, plenty of analysts wondering and speculating how much Pakistan has helped with that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But for Pakistan, they need to have a government that they can deal with across their border in Afghanistan.
--:-- Debra Haynes: And what are the key concerns for the Western world right now, since the Taliban has taken back control of Afghanistan?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, on a protectionist level, primarily it's the terrorist threat.
--:-- Debra Haynes: Sounds a bit heartless to say that, but for the UK government and the U.S., they've made it very clear that their red line in terms of any further intervention in Afghanistan is if that country, again, harbors terrorists that could threaten the West.
--:-- John Bickley: But beyond that, of course, they're talking about the need to continue with the gains that have been made with things like women's rights.
--:-- Debra Haynes: And you're listening to the Taliban leaders, well, their spokespeople coming out and saying all the right words in terms of ensuring that girls can still go to school, that women can have careers, which they very much did not have under the previous regime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But it's all going to be couched under Islamic law.
--:-- Debra Haynes: This is going to be, in the words of the Taliban, a strong Islamic country going forward. And that will mean curbs on women's freedoms.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Deborah, this has been great. Thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Debra Haynes: Thank you very much.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Deborah Haynes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. Videos have emerged of women protesting against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
--:-- John Bickley: Despite the threat to their lives, women are taking to the street and demanding rights from the group infamous for abusing and limiting the rights of women.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll see you tomorrow.
--:-- [Music continues to play as the episode ends]
