Biden's average approval rating drops below 50% for first time

President Biden's average approval rating has dropped below 50% for the first time since taking office, according to trackers from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics.

Driving the news: The dip in the president's approval rating is likely tied to the surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant. The downward trend precedes Biden's response to the crisis in Afghanistan, which has drawn intense criticism.

The big picture: Biden has a 49.8% approval rating in the FiveThirtyEight average and 49.4% approval rating in the RCP average.

• This marks a precipitous decline from the FiveThirtyEight peak of 55.1% in March and the RCP peak of 55.7% in April.
• Former President Trump's average approval rating mostly hovered between 40%-45% during his term, while former President Obama's largely stayed between 45%-50%, according to FiveThirtyEight.