Another new poll shows that President Joe Biden’s prospects for reelection have taken a massive hit. The survey, conducted by the Wall Street Journal, shows former President Donald Trump leading Biden by six percentage points, which is far wider than previous polls have shown.
The poll, conducted from June 29 to July 2, found that only 34 percent of respondents viewed the president favorably with 63 percent viewing him unfavorably.
These numbers come on the heels of the first presidential debate, the outcome of which has boosted Trump while damaging Biden. “Only 6% of those who watched the event or heard news of it said that Biden exceeded their expectations, compared with 46% who said so of Trump,” the Journal reported.
The overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that President Biden is too old to continue serving as president.
Donald Trump has opened a 6-point lead over President Biden among voters nationally, with 80% saying that the president is too old to run for a second term, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds.
Trump’s lead over Biden in a two-person matchup, 48% to 42%, is the widest in Journal surveys dating to late 2021 and compares with a 2-point lead in February. The new survey began interviewing voters two days after the debate with Trump that left Democrats panicked about the 81-year-old president’s possible cognitive decline and their party’s weakening election prospects in November.
A striking 76 percent of Democrats said the 81-year-old president is too old to run again in 2024, and two-thirds would prefer to replace him on the ballot with a different nominee, the report noted.
However, it’s not all roses for former President Trump. A significant chunk of respondents expressed negative opinions about him.
Some 66% said the word “authoritarian” describes Trump well, compared with 31% who said so of Biden, and 49% said they believed Trump would undermine democracy. Some 40% said so of Biden.
Two-thirds of voters said that Trump, if re-elected, would use the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents—something Trump has suggested could be justified. A smaller share, some 47%, said Biden has already used the justice system to go after political opponents.
This poll paints a rather grim picture for Team Biden, but it is not surprising given the candidate’s poor performance on the debate stage. Most polls up to this point have shown the two candidates in a statistical dead heat. If other polls mirror this one, it could show just how devastating the debate was for the president.
The low favorability ratings combined with attitudes toward Biden’s age indicate just how dire the situation has become. Democratic voters have shown that they want new leadership even after Biden secured the nomination. Now, the party is scrambling to mitigate the fallout from the debate, which was really just the culmination of what the public has seen from the president over the past four years.
Now, party leadership is in the unenviable position of having to choose between trying to replace Biden or trying to put lipstick on the pig, so to speak. The outcome of the upcoming race is far from certain, but it is clear that the president’s team has an uphill battle ahead.
