US public sours on a Biden-Trump election rematch in 2024

Americans are souring on the prospect of a 2024 election rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, even as that looks like the most likely scenario at this stage, according to an NBC News poll.

Most of those surveyed, by 70% to 26%, said that Biden should not seek reelection while 60% said Trump should bow out of the race, compared with 35% who want him to run.

Biden is looking to formally announce as early as this week that he’s running for a second term, according to people familiar with the matter. His approval ratings remain underwater, with 41% in the NBC poll approving of his job as president compared with 54% who disapproved.

Trump, meanwhile, has emerged as the strong frontrunner for the GOP nomination. He’s the first choice of 46% of Republican primary voters in the survey, compared with 31% who favored Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 6% who favored former Vice President Mike Pence.

Biden’s age was the top reason registered voters gave for wanting him to step aside in the 2024 race. The president is 80, and Trump is 76.

Republican primary voters mostly dismissed recent criminal charges filed against Trump in New York state alleging he falsified business records over a hush money payment related to an alleged affair with former porn star Stormy Daniels. In the survey, 68% said the charges were politically motivated.

The April 14-18 poll of 1,000 adults by Hart Research and

Public Opinion Strategies has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error for the poll’s 800 registered voters is 3.46 points, and the margin of error among the 292 Republican primary voters is 5.99 points.