U.S. President Joe Biden arrives for a bilateral meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit on May 18, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan. The G7 summit will be held in Hiroshima from 19-22 May. KIYOSHI OTA/BENZINGA
President Joe Biden continues to suffer with low approval rates, as he’s still leading the polls to win the 2024 presidential election.
His approval rating were similar Trump, but lower than his former boss Barack Obama in 2012.
A new poll of more than 4,400 U.S. adults puts Biden ahead of Donald Trump in this presidential election in which the current and former presidents could compete against each other.
Neither Trump nor Biden are heavily favored by independent voters, where Biden has an edge over Trump.
The former president is currently facing legal scrutiny as he lost a civil lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll in claims against sexual abuse in the 1990 in a New York City department store. He’s facing criminal charges in New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta.
“Despite Joe Biden’s unpopularity, our poll found that he would win re-election in a rematch against Donald Trump by a bigger margin than the one he had in 2020,” said WPA principal Amanda Iovino.
The news comes as a relief for the president, who’s currently facing one of the most tense political periods of the year: a deal to raise the debt ceiling has yet not been reached, causing the president to compress a planned trip to Asia and the South Pacific.
While neither Biden nor Trump have been officially confirmed to represent their parties in the 2024 presidential election, they both have announced a presidential bid and are leading polls in their respective primaries.
Close 70% of voters in the GOP still stand behind Trump as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to make an announcement soon for his run for the president.
“At this stage, 2024 is shaping up to be a sequel of the 2020 election,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research, which conducted this poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff and his team at Public Opinion Strategies. “Sequels are frequently hits at the box office, but apparently not at the ballot box.”
The poll, conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, puts Biden ahead of Trump by 6% with the Democrat receiving 44% of votes and the Republican 38%.
A separate poll released yesterday puts Trump ahead of DeSantis to win the Republican candidacy by 43% points, also beating Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy by a landslide.
The Democratic Party is making an effort to show more cohesion and several prominent figures expressed support for Biden’s presidential bid last month.
According to the poll, independent voters — those not aligned with either Democrats or Republicans — are more likely to vote for Biden given his position on abortion rights and gun control.
Seventy-three% of independents and 63% overall said they were “less likely to support a presidential candidate who backs severe restrictions on abortion,” according to Reuters.
Yet loosening restrictions on immigration could put Biden’s success on the line. The expiration of the controversial Title 42 measure, which was raised during the COVID-19 pandemic and restricted the right of immigrants without visas to seek asylum in the U.S., has become a source of concern for voters of both parties.
The poll showed that a bipartisan majority is concerned immigration could rise due to the expiration of Title 42, with 64% of Democrats and 93% of Republicans saying they prefer a president who supports tougher measures to secure the border.
As immigrants gathered en masse at the Southern border in hopes of gaining asylum in the U.S., Biden warned that the situation is “going to be chaotic for a while.”
Produced in association with Benzinga
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