It appears as though former President Donald Trump’s cascade of legal troubles this year haven’t done much to help current President Joe Biden at the polls.
According to CNN poll results released Thursday, Trump had a slight edge against Biden (47% to 46%) among all voters asked who they would vote for if the election were held now. Even a vast majority (82%) of left leaning voters said they would prefer a Democratic candidate other than Biden.
Of those who said they would vote for Biden, 64% said they were really casting vote against Trump. On the other hand, Trump supporters seem a bit more loyal – only 37% said they were only casting a vote against Biden.
Nearly half of the people surveyed said their main concern about the sitting president is his age. He’s currently 80 and would be 86 by the end of his second term if he wins the 2024 election. While Trump is younger, he’s only a bit younger – he tuned 77 in June.
While more than 80% of Democrat and Democrat-leaning voters said they would like a different candidate than Biden to run, they weren’t overly enthusiastic about any one potential replacement. Sen Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were tied at the top of a list of potential candidates on the left at 3%.
Several of the other GOP 2024 presidential candidate hopefuls also performed better than Biden, per the CNN poll. They included former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (49% to Biden’s 43%), former Vice President Mike Pence (46% to Biden’s 44%), South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (46% to Biden’s 44%), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (44% to Biden’s 42%). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tied Biden with 47% and the president outperformed businessman Vivek Ramaswamy 46% to 45%.
Biden’s overall approval rating dropped from 41% in July to 39% last month, according to the CNN polling. This is close to a 38% low he hit last summer after trending upward for the past year. More than half of voters (58%) said that his leadership has been worse for the U.S. economy.
At the same time, Trump’s overall approval rating was even lower, at 35%. It has been lower than 40% since January 2021, per CNN polling. Additionally, 44% of voters said any Democratic nominee would be better than Trump, as well as 46% who said any Republican nominee would be better than Biden.
A total of 1,503 adults participated in the poll from Aug. 25 to Aug. 31.