President Joe Biden is taking on more water in his desperate struggle to avoid facing former President Donald Trump head-to-head in next year’s general election. And if the latest poll is an indicator of how the fight is going, his troubles are just beginning.
A poll released this week by Premise Data shows that President Trump continues to enjoy a clear seven-point advantage over President Biden, a difference that mirrors previous polls taken earlier this year. In a national survey of over 1,700 registered voters, Trump draws 41 percent compared to 34 percent for Biden. A quarter of voters were undecided.
Years of persistent inflation appear to be sagging the president’s poll numbers. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they somewhat or strongly disapprove of President Biden’s job performance while a shocking 82 percent described the current national economy as “fair” or “poor.” The economy and inflation were both top issues for more than 40 percent of respondents.
President Trump’s gilded path to the Republican Party’s nomination only seems to be growing smoother. Among 484 likely GOP primary voters, the 45th president received 57 percent of support compared to 16 percent for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his closest rival. His lead is one of the largest in modern history for a presidential candidate in a crowded field, so large that Trump has toyed with the idea of skipping the party’s first debate later this month in favor of holding his own event while bragging to advisors that he’s “up by too many points” and sharing the stage with his badly-trailing competitors would only hurt him.
Elected on a platform of steady, no-nonsense leadership, President Biden will now likely pivot his reelection strategy toward fear-mongering about the impending chaos that would result from reelecting President Trump. He will need to shore up support in key demographics including Black voters, who have deeply soured on the incumbent since 2020, and combat the perception among large swaths of voters that he is simply too old to handle a second term. Public spills and seniors moments haven’t helped quell concern that the president should stand down and let another Democrat like Vice President Kamala Harris or Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. take his place at the top of the ticket.