A new poll has revealed that a majority of Americans believe the Biden administration’s handling Chinese spy balloon has "made America look weak."
The poll, conducted by The Trafalgar Group in partnership with Convention of States Action, found that 59.2 percent of Americans believe the handling of the balloon, which was allowed to travel across America before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina, "made America look weak" on the world stage.
24.2 percent of respondents said that the handling of the balloon "had no impact" on perceptions of America on the world stage, while just 10.1 percent said "it made America look strong." 6.5 percent said they were unsure.
The largest percentage of Democrats, 43.6 percent, said that the handling of the balloon had "no impact," while the majority of Republicans and independents, 84.7 and 64.4 percent, respectively, said that it "made America look weak."
The poll found that 63.4 percent of Americans said the balloon crisis was mishandled or should have been handled sooner, while just 36.6 percent said the crisis was handled appropriately.
Of those who disapproved of the crisis’ handling, 34.5 percent said it should have been handled sooner, while 28.9 percent said the crisis was mishandled.
61.8 percent of Democrats said the balloon crisis was handled appropriately, while Republicans and independents said that it was mishandled, at 87.1 and 67.7 percent, respectively.
The poll also revealed that a majority of Americans believe that President Biden should have acted sooner in taking down the Chinese spy balloon before it entered US airspace, at 58.8 percent.
31.4 percent said that Biden shouldn’t have acted sooner, while 9.8 percent said they were unsure.
50.5 percent of Democrats said Biden shouldn’t have acted sooner, while 77.5 percent of Republicans and 64.4 percent of independents said he should have.
The poll was conducted between February 6 and 7 of 1086 likely general election voters, and has a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
The balloon was reportedly known to the Biden administration's Department of Defense for nearly a week before news of the balloon broke on February 2, but the White House attempted to keep its presence quiet to avoid disrupting Secretary of State Antony Blinken's scheduled trip to China. The trip ended up being postponed after the public's discovery of the balloon.
US military officials tracked the balloon as it traveled through Canadian airspace and entered American territory. The day after it entered US airspace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin updated Biden on the balloon, but it wasn't until Saturday that the Commander in Chief and the military officials could decide on taking action.
"I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible," Biden said on Saturday.
"They decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground. They decided that the best time to do that was when it got over water," Biden continued. "They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it, and we will have more to report on this a little later."
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