Generic GOP candidate would beat Biden in hypothetical election by nearly 10 points, new poll finds

If the next presidential election were held now, Joe Biden would face a humiliating defeat at the hands of a hypothetical Republican candidate by almost 10 points, a new poll suggests on Wednesday.

The new Politico/Morning Consult poll has Biden, 79, behind a generic GOP candidate by a margin of 37 percentage points to 46.

Sixteen percent said they had no opinion.

The only other Democratic president in modern history to lose his re-election bid was Jimmy Carter, whose tumultuous tenure was often held up as an example alongside Biden’s when he compared the handling of Iran. by Carter to Biden deals in Afghanistan and devastating grocery prices. store that tormented Americans under both.

This is good news for Republicans, who already appear poised to make significant gains in Congress in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections in November.

But their search for a 2024 presidential candidate will be a difficult balancing act between placating their base and all of America’s voters as a whole.

Facing Donald Trump in the hypothetical matchup, Biden manages to pull off a very slim victory with 45% support to his rival’s 44%. But his one-point lead also falls well within the two-point margin of error.

About one in 10 voters said they would rather not vote for one or the other.

But Trump still dominates among Republican voters, which could set him up for an easy primary victory followed by a back-to-back loss to a president who would then be in his 80s.

In a hypothetical Republican primary with several current and former senior GOP officials, the former president is the clear winner with 49% of the vote.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a distant second with 14%, and former Trump Vice President Mike Pence is third with 12%.

No other candidate on the list, which includes Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, got 5%.

However, with Trump out of the picture, DeSantis would take the top spot for GOP voters’ favorite candidate with a quarter of the poll’s support.

Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s eldest child, is close behind with 24%, despite having no political experience.

Pence held steady with 12% support.

But even if Trump steps down, the poll indicates that DeSantis and Pence would still have more problems with Biden.

DeSantis would face a game-breaking 39-to-44 loss, according to the poll.

Pence would fare considerably better with 42%, less than two points from victory against the incumbent Democratic.

A rematch between Biden and Trump would see the president gain 45% support while the ex-president would end up with 44%. Yet among Republican primary candidates, Trump still dominates

Biden’s slim one-point lead against Trump falls within the poll’s 2% margin of error

However, voters’ slight preference for Biden over the current crop of 2024 Republican hopefuls does not indicate overall satisfaction with him as president.

In fact, a majority of 56% said they disapproved of the ruling president’s work, while 42% supported him.

More than 50% also disapproved of Biden’s handling of foreign policy and national security, at a time when the world is watching the United States to see if it will deter an increasingly aggressive Russia from invading Ukraine. .

And amid 40-year record inflation, 57% of survey respondents said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy.

It’s the same rate at which they disapprove of his handling of immigration, after much of his first year was spent grappling with a migrant crisis on the southern border.

Wednesday’s poll locked in Democrats and Republicans at 42% each for the House and Senate in the upcoming November semesters.

The GOP is seen slightly better by just one point — though both parties fail to secure 50% favor.

Just yesterday, Biden’s approval rating hit another grim record with a new poll placing him with just 39% of voter support.

Meanwhile, a separate survey has suggested the president has lost the trust of Americans who largely think he doesn’t care about them and is a weak leader, two disastrous results just a year after his input function.

Among hypothetical Republican candidates, Trump wins 49% of the vote while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trails far behind

Biden’s job approval fell six points from November, according to a January Harvard CAPS/Harris survey obtained by The Hill. The 39 percentage points are the lowest he has scored in the Harvard poll since he began collecting the data in March.

His disapproval rating jumped to 53%, up two points from the previous poll.

In a separate survey conducted Tuesday by Gallup, respondents were asked between Jan. 3 and Jan. 16 if a list of characteristics applied to Biden as president, after receiving the same statements in 2020.

Of these, 63% indicated that Biden is not a “strong and decisive leader”.

That’s down nine points from September 2020, although it still failed to secure a majority with just 46% of those polled saying the same.

Among Democrats, Biden’s leadership skills are still highly valued early on with 74% supporting the idea, though that’s a steep drop from 86% agreeing in 2020.

He saw his greatest loss of confidence in the region from independents, who were key to his 2020 presidential victory. Among this group, then-candidate Biden was seen by 45% as a “strong and decisive leader “, while only 30% feel the same way now.