Donald Trump has 10-point lead over Joe Biden, poll suggests
Trump holds a commanding double-digit lead over Biden ahead of next year’s election, according to a new poll which will cause alarm in the White House.
Donald Trump holds a commanding double-digit lead over President Joe Biden ahead of next year’s election, according to a new poll which will cause alarm in the White House.
The ABC News/Washington Post poll put Trump, frontrunner for the Republican nomination, ten points ahead of Biden. The numbers would suggest a clear win for the former president rather than a repeat of 2020, when the result was closer.
The latest poll puts Trump, 77, ahead of Biden among registered voters by 52 per cent to 42 per cent. Among the reasons for Biden’s waning popularity, the poll suggests, are his age and his handling of the economy. The poll found that 44 per cent of Americans feel they are worse off financially under his administration. The president’s approval rating is 37 per cent, while 56 per cent disapprove of his performance.
Only 30 per cent of respondents approved of Biden’s performance on the economy and 74 per cent said he is too old for a second term. Twenty-three per cent said they approved of Biden’s handling of immigration at the border with Mexico, which is experiencing another surge of crossings.
The findings are likely to increase calls for the president to step aside and let the Democrats choose an alternative candidate.
However there is no consensus on who that should be. Eight per cent want the vice-president, Kamala Harris; the same number want the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and 20 per cent would simply prefer “someone else”.
Trump, by contrast, is a clear favourite among Republicans despite his legal woes. He faces 91 felony counts in separate cases in New York, Georgia, Washington DC and Florida, for alleged offences including attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
Trump allies leapt on the polling as proof he is capable of regaining the White House. “The elitist left and their stenographers in the mainstream media should talk to more voters across America,” said Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman.
The Times
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