Poll: Trump leads Biden in hypothetical matchup
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden may be losing support among voters heading into 2024, a new poll finds, as a hypothetical matchup with Donald Trump shows the former president leading by several percentage points.
An exclusive Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump would lead Biden by 4 percentage points, 47% to 43%, if only those two candidates were on the ballot. Adding five possible third-party and independent candidates to the mix, Trump leads Biden by 6%.
The five candidates combined would earn the total support of 17% of voters.
The poll also found 49% of voters think Trump’s policies have helped them, while only 23% of voters think Biden’s policies have helped them. Voters think Trump would be better able to handle the economy, inflation, crime, border security and the war between Israel and Hamas, while Biden is better able to handle abortion and the tone in politics.
And border security seems to be the biggest issue where Biden falters, with Trump leading against him by 30%.
“If this race is about policy and performance, then Donald Trump has a significant advantage,” Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who works for a Trump super PAC, told the Wall Street Journal. “If this race is about temperament and character, things like that, then Biden has an advantage.”
Concern about Biden’s age has also been a spotlight on the campaign trail, stemming from reports of him falling, sometimes mixing up countries and dates, and making other small blunders. Though Trump has also been seen slurring words and having difficulty walking, he hasn’t faced the same scrutiny.
However, one of Trump’s liabilities is his indictments in four criminal cases, David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, previously told USA TODAY.
The poll was conducted from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.