New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS): With his administration facing multiple challenges at home and abroad, US President Joe Biden's job approval rating has fallen sharply in the past two months, says a research by Pew Research Center.

Fewer than half of US adults (44%) now approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 53% disapprove. This marks a reversal in Biden's job ratings since July, when a 55% majority approved of his job performance and 43% disapproved.

Biden receives his least positive assessments for being mentally sharp. Currently, 43% say this describes Biden very or fairly well, an 11-point decline since March.

Positive evaluations of several of Bide's personal traits and characteristics have shown similar decreases. Compared with March, fewer adults say Biden cares about people like them, and fewer describe him as standing up for his beliefs, honest, a good role model and mentally sharp.

About half (51%) are very or somewhat confident in his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, but that is down from 65% in March. The shares expressing confidence in Biden's handling of economic policy, foreign policy and immigration policy also have declined.

Biden continues to draw less confidence for unifying the country than on dealing with specific issues; only about a third (34%) are confident he can bring the country closer together, a 14 percentage point decline since March.

Assessments of Biden's personal traits also have become less positive. While majorities say he stands up for what he believes in (60%) and cares about the needs of ordinary people (54%), larger shares described Biden in these terms six months ago (66% and 62%, respectively).