Voters appear to be moderately warming up to President Joe Biden, while Republicans are cooling on former President Donald Trump.
Biden scored his highest approval rating among both general election and Democratic voters in nearly a year, with an uptick in Democrats viewing him as their most formidable candidate in 2024, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Meanwhile, Trump's approval among Republicans has plunged to its lowest level since 2016.
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Among United States adults, Biden earned 46% favorability, the highest since March of 2022, per the poll. He also scored a 49% approval rating among registered voters, the highest since the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, which cratered his support.
Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters also appear more confident in him clinching the party nod, with 50% deeming him their best chance of winning in 2024, compared to 45% who think their best odds lie elsewhere.
This is up from 54% of Democrats who believed the party would have a better shot with someone else in a poll taken before the midterm elections. Skepticism from the base is not only haunting Biden, but Trump is also staring down unease from his base.
Republicans and Republican-leaning voters believe the party would have a better shot with someone else as their standard bearer 54% to 42%, per the poll. This is up from 35% who believed Trump would be the GOP's best shot last November.
Trump sank to his lowest approval among Republican voters, with 68% to 25%, marking his lowest score among the group in seven years, per the poll. It was at 79% in November. Meanwhile, Biden's approval rating sits at 88%.
The poll was taken Feb. 13-16 among 1,352 U.S. adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. Marist attributed the boost for Biden to the State of the Union address that he delivered earlier this month.
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Biden, 80, has stressed that he intends to run for reelection but has not yet declared his candidacy. Trump launched his campaign last November and is slated to face a competitive primary contest.
Polls have shown Biden and Trump running close against each other. A recent Morning Consult poll had Biden edging out Trump by about one percentage point. Most polls generally peg Trump as the front-runner in the GOP primary, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.