Two new national polls show President Joe Biden losing ground in a head-to-head match-up with former President Donald Trump. Biden is also facing his lowest approval ratings since he began his term in office.
A poll released by ABC News/The Washington Post found that when it comes to the 2024 election, 62% of Democrats say they want their party to pick someone other than Biden as the nominee, while only one-third say they back the president.
The poll asked who voters plan to support if not Biden in a Democratic primary. Around 8% expressed support for Vice President Kamala Harris. Roughly the same percentage also showed a preference for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., meanwhile, 20% said they would choose “someone else.”
Why is Biden’s approval rating low right now?
According to the latest poll, Biden’s approval rating is at 37%, while 56% say they disapprove of the job he’s doing. His age, the immigration crisis at the southern border and the state of the economy are the reasons behind his low popularity, the report said.
Another poll from NBC News found that roughly three-quarters of Americans say they are concerned about his age and mental fitness, while only 4 in 10 approve of the state of the economy.
Trump’s indictments didn’t hurt his ratings
Even after numerous criminal indictments — and a viral mugshot— in recent months, Trump’s lead among Republicans in the running for 2024 has only grown. He is ahead of other candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by more than 40 points, and is the first choice of 59% of Republican voters, according to the NBC poll.
Trump amasses the most support among his GOP competitors, even though he skipped the first GOP primary debate and plans to skip the second one.
Ultimately, ABC News noted, Trump “has used his criminal indictments to bolster his base through claims of political persecution and enjoys positive coverage of his GOP frontrunner status.”
What does a Biden-Trump match-up look like?
In a hypothetical 2024 match-up, the NBC News poll found that support for Biden and Trump was tied at 46%.
But the poll from ABC News/The Washington Post survey showed a wider gap between the two for a hypothetical rematch. Trump garnered 51% of the support, compared to Biden’s 42%, a difference of over 10 points.
The Washington Post has acknowledged that its survey is not generating the same result as other similar polls like NBC’s.
“The difference between this poll and others, as well as the unusual makeup of Trump’s and Biden’s coalitions in this survey, suggests it is probably an outlier,” The Post said
Trump outperforms his 2024 rivals, threatens their funding
In June’s NBC News survey, Trump was leading DeSantis by 29 points. The gap has increased since then. This time, Trump leads with 59% and DeSantis comes in second with 16%, opening up a 43-point difference. The poll found that an increase in support for Trump came from “men, seniors and moderate Republican primary voters.”
Other candidates — including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — trailed in the single digits.
These poll numbers are leading wealthy Republican donors to hesitate when opening their wallets.
“Trump’s like 50 points ahead,” a New York-based GOP fundraiser told Politico. “Who wants to get involved and waste money?”
Biden trails behind Nikki Haley in a hypothetical match-up
The hypothetical Biden-Trump rematch is a close one — and so is a Biden-DeSantis matchup, where Biden enjoys a one-point lead, within the margin of error, 46% to 45%, per the NBC poll.
Haley performs better when going up against Biden, who trails her by 5 points, with 46% to 41%.
“She is serving as the functional generic Republican candidate,” Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican pollster, told NBC News.