W. James Antle lll
The majority of registered voters do not want the next presidential election to be a rematch of the 2020 contest, according to a new poll conducted by Echelon Insights/Washington Examiner.
Only about a third of registered voters would like either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump to run again in 2024, according to the poll of 1,016 registered voters. On Trump, 59% said no to a third campaign, while 33% said yes, and 8% were unsure. For Biden, 51% said no to a reelection bid, while 34% said yes, and 15% were unsure.
Biden has been battered in recent days over a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and, already the oldest president to serve, would turn 82 shortly after Election Day. In the survey, 52% strongly or somewhat approved of the way he was performing as president, while 46% strongly or somewhat disapproved, though he was underwater on both immigration and foreign policy and at just 50% on the economy.
The poll also found that 54% believe the country is on the wrong track, compared to 39% who said it was moving in the right direction, usually a troubling indicator for an incumbent.
If neither Biden nor Trump were to run, pluralities in both parties do have a preferred pick. Democrats would choose Vice President Kamala Harris, who at 33% is ahead of the next runner-up, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. No other Democrat is in the double digits.
On the Republican side, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would edge out former Vice President Mike Pence 25% to 23%. No one else is in the double digits, though Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas comes closest at 9%. Cruz was the runner-up to Trump in 2016.
Half of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters said they were supporters of Trump, and 43% said they primarily backed the party as a whole, but 40% said they were conservative Republicans, 29% picked “Trump Republican,” and 27% picked centrist Republican.
Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters had a similar split, with a solid 42% plurality picking centrist Democrat as their label, while 26% chose Bernie Sanders-style Democrat and 25% mainstream liberal Democrat. Sanders, a socialist senator from Vermont, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 2016 and 2020, but his supporters have won some primaries in down-ballot races.
Biden’s nomination last year, by an even bigger margin than Hillary Clinton’s defeat of Sanders, was seen as Democrats rejecting their furthest left wing.
The Echelon Insights/Washington Examiner national poll of 1,016 registered voters was conducted between Aug. 13-18.
Washington Examiner
