President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, appear to be headed for a rematch of their 2020 contest. And for now, anyway, it’s anyone’s race, despite Trump’s multiple indictments, two of which were brought by a special counsel named by Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland.
A new survey from The Wall Street Journal found that Biden and Trump are in a dead heat. The poll asked: “If the 2024 general election for President were held today and the candidates were Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, for whom would you vote?”
Both received 46 percent, but notably, that is a one-point increase for Trump and a two-point decrease for Biden since April, the WSJ noted.
“The survey also asked respondents who they would choose in a matchup between Trump, Biden, Green Party candidate Cornel West, and Libertarian Lars Mapstead. In that scenario, Trump leads Biden by a single percentage point— 40 percent to 39 percent. Two percent chose West, one percent chose Mapstead, and 17 percent remain undecided,” Breitbart News added, citing the survey.
“As has been consistent in virtually every other survey, Trump leads in the Republican primary race by double digits with 59 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls 46 points behind with 13 percent support. That reflects a massive shift since April, when 24 points separated the two, as Trump saw 48 percent support to the Florida governor’s 24 percent,” the outlet continued.
The survey also found that a supermajority of Democrat voters believe Biden is too old to run again.
“Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again,” the outlet said.
Meanwhile, a separate survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs found that 75 percent of respondents believe Biden is too old to be president for another term.
A whopping 89 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats agreed with the poll’s findings that Biden is too old to serve as vice president for another four years, according to The Hill.
The AP made the point that Biden’s age is not just viewed negatively by older people. However, about 50% of Americans thought Trump was too old to serve as president. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to think that Trump’s advanced age made him unfit for office.
Polls show that Democrats, Republicans, and independents all support setting age limits for the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress.
A little over two-thirds of respondents agreed that lawmakers and the president’s maximum ages should be set, and that judges should be required to retire by a certain age.
A mandatory retirement age for the Supreme Court is supported by 67 percent of voters, while 66 percent support age restrictions for House, Senate, and presidential candidates.
Ahead of what so far appears to be a looming rematch of their 2020 contest, a new Harvard Harris Poll found that Trump continues to dominate the field of Republican candidates while Biden suffers from a growing perception that he is no longer mentally fit to serve as commander-in-chief.
The poll found that less than one-third — 32 percent — of respondents believe that Biden is mentally fit to serve as President, while 68 percent expressed doubts about his mental acuity.
Meanwhile, the survey found that in a Democratic race, most voters prefer Biden. Yet, should he choose to drop out, the survey found Vice President Kamala Harris takes the forefront as the preferred candidate.
Despite Biden’s overall approval rating standing around 40 percent, the question of his mental fitness might play a decisive role for undecided voters. Poll analysts said that Democrats must proactively address these concerns if they wish to secure a second term for Biden.