Joe Biden and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the race for the White House, but if they abandoned Biden, Democrats would beat the former president, according to a new poll.
Analysis by former Conservative vice-president Lord Ashcroft, shared with The Mail on Sunday, puts Biden, 81, who is running for re-election as president in November, at 40 per cent among US voters, the same as Trump.
But when voters are offered a choice between Trump, 77, the favorite to be his Republican rival, and “a Democrat other than Joe Biden,” the hypothetical candidate leads by six points. Biden would beat Nikki Haley, Trump’s latest rival for the Republican nomination, by 11 points.
Although the two men are tied in the 10,000-sample poll, the American electorate believes the momentum is with Trump: Only 28 percent believe Biden will win re-election, compared to 38 percent who expect Trump to return to office. white presidency. Home.
The results were released amid growing concerns about the mental capacity of President Biden, who is the oldest person to occupy the Oval Office. Earlier this month, special counsel Robert Hur caused alarm when he said in his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents that Biden was a “well-intentioned old man with a bad memory.”
The concerns are reflected in the president’s approval ratings: Only 37 percent of American voters approve of his handling of the Presidency, compared to 58 percent who disapprove, including a quarter of those who voted for him in 2020. Young voters are particularly disenchanted: 64 percent of the 18-24 age group disapprove.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the race for the White House, but if they abandoned Biden, Democrats would beat the former president, according to a new poll.
Although the two men are tied in the 10,000-sample survey, the American electorate believes the momentum is with Trump: Only 28 percent believe Biden will win re-election, compared to 38 percent who expect Trump to return to office. white presidency. Home
Lord Ashcroft’s focus groups found that many of Biden’s supporters in 2020 had backed him only as a means to unseat Trump. A typical response was, “Personally, I wish the Democratic Party had another viable option.” Another said: “I don’t think he has any idea what’s going on… Every time he talks I get so nervous because I don’t know what’s going to come out.”
The battle between Biden and Trump is polarizing the country in terms of race, gender and demographics: Trump leads among men, those under 35, white voters and high school dropouts, and on issues such as immigration, defense, the economy, taxes, crime and the cost of living; Biden leads among women, those over 65, black voters and those with health care and environmental degrees.
Pessimism looms over the race: Two-thirds of voters think America is headed in the wrong direction, a figure that rises to 86 percent among Trump supporters.
Trump, the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges, faces a total of 91 charges in four separate cases, including payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and accusations that he illegally conspired to overturn her election loss. of 2020.
Lord Ashcroft’s research found that voters as a whole were twice as likely to say the charges against Trump were probably true and not politically motivated: 40 per cent compared to 20 per cent who say they were politically motivated and They were probably fake.
One Trump supporter in a focus group said, “They’re petrified that he’s going to get another victory.” And we know they play dirty. They’re trying to come up with something to get him to a place where he can’t run. Another participant said: ‘I think the accusations were justified based on what he did, but were they politically motivated? Of course he was. That is the nature of the country we live in. “It’s Republican versus Democrat.” Lord Ashcroft writes: “If the election were on Tuesday, then you would have to imagine Trump’s chances.” But with nine months to go, there is more than enough time for Biden to regain the initiative.
‘If it feels like 2016 again [when Trump won], that doesn’t mean the same outcome is inevitable. For many voters who wonder if they can bring themselves to vote for Biden again, 2016 will serve as a warning.”
From January 17 to 28, 10,192 American adults were interviewed online. The results were weighted to be representative of all adults. Full details at LordAshcroftPolls.com.