NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday lowered its outlook on the U.S. credit rating to "negative" from "stable" citing large fiscal deficits and a decline in debt affordability, a move that drew immediate criticism from President Joe Biden's administration.

The ratings agency said in a statement that "continued political polarization" in Congress raises the risk that lawmakers will not be able to reach consensus on a fiscal plan to slow the decline in debt affordability."

"Any type of significant policy response that we might be able to see to this declining fiscal strength probably wouldn't happen until 2025 because of the reality of the political calendar next year," William Foster, a senior vice president at Moody's, told Reuters in an interview.

Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, expect to release a stopgap spending measure on Saturday aimed at averting a partial government shutdown by keeping federal agencies open when current funding expires next Friday.

A New York Times/Siena poll released on Sunday showed him trailing former President Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate, in five of six battleground states: Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has spent days in talks with members of his slim 221-212 Republican majority about several stopgap measures, said Moody's decision underscored the failure of what he called Biden's "reckless spending agenda."

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