President Joe Biden appeared to lose ground to former President Donald Trump in a February poll from the New York Times/Siena College, but he now seems to be closing that gap.
Per the poll results, 45% of 1,059 registered voters polled from April 7 to 11 would vote for Biden and 46% would vote for Trump. In February, 43% were for Biden and 48% were for Trump. In December, Biden polled a bit higher at 44% and Trump polled at 46%.
While Biden’s results improved slightly compared to February, his favorability rating remained below Trump’s at 40% compared to the presumptive GOP 2024 presidential candidate’s 43%. Furthermore, the results indicate 18% of Americans don’t have a favorable view of either of the two likely candidates in the November election.
As for the reasons Americans don’t seem very enthused about Biden, nearly 80% said that the U.S. economy is doing just fair or poor. Nearly equal percentages of people disapprove of Biden’s economic leadership and approve of the way Trump handled the economy when he was president from 2017 through 2020 (64%).
Even though most of the people polled approved of the way Trump handled the economy, more than half (54%) also said they believe the former president has committed serious federal crimes. Trump was indicted four times last year and faces a mountain of legal troubles.
As we get closer to the November election, it seems that Trump is eager to face Biden on the debate stage as well as in polls. Audacy reported this week that “Trump’s campaign has sent a letter to The Commission on Presidential Debates calling for additional debates and for them to be held ‘much earlier’ than initially proposed.”
