You might think that after a midterm election cycle in which Democrats did remarkably well compared to most expectations, some of that positive feeling would reflect back on the party’s leader. But not so according to this new Quinnipiac poll released today. People still don’t think Joe Biden is doing a good job.
Americans give President Joe Biden a negative job approval rating, as 36 percent approve of the job he’s doing, while 54 percent disapprove.
Among registered voters, President Biden receives a negative 36 – 55 percent job approval rating.
His lowest approval number is on the economy (no surprise there) and his highest is on his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But even there he’s still underwater at 43-48. There is simply nothing he is doing that a majority of people like. Biden’s favorability ratings are ever so slightly better at 38-52. That’s a point better than Trump at 37-54. And he’s doing 10 points better than Kamala Harris who is at 28-48.
Part of the poll also looked at Gov. DeSantis. A plurality said they did not want him to run for president, 44-37 but among Republicans the numbers were very different with 60 percent saying they wanted him to run and just 26 percent who opposed it. That was very close to Trump’s numbers at 62-27. But when the two were matched up Americans overall preferred DeSantis while Republicans were evenly split.
Americans 43 – 29 percent say they prefer Ron DeSantis win the Republican nomination for president in 2024 over Donald Trump, while 13 percent say they prefer someone else to win the GOP nomination and 15 percent did not offer an opinion.
Republicans are evenly split over who they prefer to win the Republican nomination with 44 percent preferring Trump, 44 percent preferring DeSantis and 11 percent not offering an opinion.
This isn’t the first poll to show that Trump no longer has a strong lead over DeSantis in polling. Several polls taken this month have showed DeSantis with a lead, including one poll which included several other potential GOP candidates. But another poll out today shows Trump still holding a wide lead. Trump himself was quick to comment on it:
Trump received 55% of Republican registered voters’ support, while DeSantis, his potential rival for the White House nomination, received just 25%, the Emerson College poll found.
That survey was taken last week on the heels of Trump’s announcement that he would run for the White House in two years, and after DeSantis crushed his Democratic opponent Charlie Crist in the Florida governor’s race…
“For all RINOS [Republicans in Name Only], Never Trumpers, Radical Left Democrats and, of course, the Fake News Media, please enjoy this latest poll from highly respected Emerson College,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday.
“I’m sure you will be thrilled!” Trump added.
But the same poll found that both Trump and DeSantis would lose to Biden by about the same amount:
in a potential rematch of the 2020 election in 2024, Biden would defeat Trump by a margin of 45% to 41%, the survey found.
If DeSantis were the 2024 GOP nominee, he would lose to Biden by the same margin, according to the poll, which found the Democratic incumbent would garner 43% of the vote, compared to 39% for the governor.
Biden does not seem to be in a position to win by 4 in 2024 at this moment. Generally speaking polls this far out only tell us about where things are right now, not where they’ll be a year or two from now. Still it’s hard not to look.