Former President Trump would beat President Biden if the 2024 election were held today, according to a new poll from the Wall Street Journal.
Biden trailed Trump 47% to 43% in the hypothetical match-up.
The lead widened from 37% to 31% when five potential third-party candidates were added to the mix.
The survey showed former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley whipping Biden 51% to 34%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis only managing a 45-45% draw with Biden.
Deep pessimism about Biden’s job performance drove the dour numbers.
Barely one in five Americans said Biden’s policies have helped them personally while a majority, 53%, said they were “hurt” by Biden’s presidency.
More than six out of 10 voters said they disapproved of President Biden’s job performance.
Just over five out of 10 voters said they also disapproved of Trump’s performance as president.
Two-thirds of voters said they believed the economy was poor or not good and that it had gotten worse in the last two years.
On major issues including the economy, crime, inflation, border security, and Israel-Hamas, voters said they trusted Trump more than Biden.
The president received higher marks on abortion and “tone in politics.”
“We don’t have national elections, we have state elections. Trump is at 47%, which is about where he was in 2020. The question is can he get the extra 1.5% to be president,” said GOP consultant Ryan Girdusky — who warned that abortion could be a deadly issue.
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“Abortion as an issue is a killer. Joe Biden is going to sit there and say Donald Trump appointed Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe V. Wade,” Girdusky said. “For a lot of women this is their big issue, for a lot of people this is their big issue. There is no way around that. “
Voters tended to see Trump as having more stamina than Biden and being more mentally up for the job.
Biden, 81, is the oldest president in American history.
More voters, however, said Biden was “honest” and “respects democracy.”
The poll was conducted by Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio and Democrat Michael Bocian.
Fabrizio is a longtime Trump pollster and currently works for a SuperPAC supporting the former president.
“If this race is about policy and performance, then Donald Trump has a significant advantage,” Fabrizio told the Journal. “If this race is about temperament and character, things like that, then Biden has an advantage.”
The poll also reconfirmed Trump’s dominance in the GOP presidential primary, where he has coasted far above his challengers throughout the year.
The survey found Trump leading his Republican rivals with 59% of GOP primary voters supporting him.
Haley and DeSantis battled it out for second place holding 15% and 14% support respectively.
The Journal poll spoke with 1,500 registered voters from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.