- Polls show Trump and Biden in a tight race, with Trump at 45 percent and Biden at 44 percent in a head-to-head battle
- VP Harris trails Trump 43 percent to 46 percent in hypothetical matchup
- The gap widens even further in hypothetical matchups between Trump and Newsom or Trump and Whitmer
For all the fuss about President Biden’s age and ability to get re-elected, a new poll shows the president would do better in a race against Donald Trump than another potential Democratic presidential candidate in the general election.
An Emerson College poll shows a close race between Biden and the former Republican president: Among registered voters, 45 percent support Trump and 44 percent support Biden.
The poll found that hypothetical matchups between Trump and other high-profile Democrats emerged because potential presidential candidates were not that close.
In a matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential frontrunner has 46 percent support to Harris’ 43 percent support.
The divide will widen in a hypothetical showdown between Trump and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been a staunch supporter of the president. Trump receives 46 percent of the support, while Newsom has 36 percent.
In a race between Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Trump, Trump has 45 percent support to Whitmer’s 33 percent.
New polling from Emerson College showed Biden doing better against Trump in a head-to-head matchup than other Democrats in hypothetical contests against the Republican front-runner
Biden launched his re-election bid last spring seeking a second term and has pledged to stay in the race and win in November. But at 81 years old, Biden is already the oldest sitting president to hold office.
Earlier this month, special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents raised new questions and sent experts into overdrive about the president’s health after it described Biden as an “older man with a poor memory.”
Biden shot back, his memory is fine. He particularly took issue with the report claiming he could not remember key life moments, such as when his son Beau died.
Harris also labeled it “clearly politically motivated” and called Hur’s description of Biden “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate.”
Newsom was one of Biden’s fiercest supporters on the campaign trail, hitting support for Biden in South Carolina last month. He has repeatedly insisted he has no plans to run against Biden and has repeatedly dismissed concerns about Biden’s age in the race.
Harris has rejected special counsel Robert Hur’s characterization of Biden’s memory. In her own hypothetical contest against Trump, Harris trails Trump 46 percent to 43 percent
Newsom has been a fierce defender of President Biden during the campaign and has pushed back on his own suggestions as presidential ambitions
Biden has called Whitmer the best governor in the country. In a hypothetical matchup between Whitmer and Trump, Whitmer trails by more than ten points
According to the Emerson poll, more than half of voters are concerned about Biden’s age. Fifty-eight percent said it raises serious doubts in their minds about voting for the president, while 42 percent said it was not a serious concern. Just within Biden’s own party, 45 percent said his age is a concern.
On Tuesday, Biden was asked by a reporter on his way to California whether there was a plan B for 2024 and whether Newsom should be on standby.
Biden appeared to laugh off the question as he shot back, “Are you ready?”
Biden is currently running virtually unopposed in the Democratic presidential primaries. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-MN, is also running for president as a Democrat but has barely gained any traction since entering the race.
While Biden’s age has raised concerns among voters in the presidential race, Trump, 77, is not without his own vulnerabilities.
His Republican primary opponent Nikki Haley on Tuesday called both Trump and Biden “two old men who are just getting older.”
The same poll also found that more than half of voters said Trump’s criminal charges raise serious doubts in their minds about voting for him.