Biden trails generic Republican in new poll, would face tight race against Trump

A poll published on Wednesday found that almost half of those surveyed said they would vote for a generic Republican candidate over President Biden if the election was held now, but he would face a close race against former President Trump.

In a hypothetical match-up, the generic Republican candidate beat Biden by almost 10 percentage points in the new Politico-Morning Consult poll. When asked how they would vote, 46 percent of respondents said they would vote for the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election, while 37 percent said they would vote for Biden. The remaining 16 percent had no opinion or didn't know.

The respondents were more evenly split when Biden was matched against Trump, with 45 percent saying they would vote for the current president and 44 percent saying they would vote for his predecessor. Biden was also statistically tied in the poll when placed up against former Vice President Mike Pence.

However, Biden beat two other potential GOP candidates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), with at least 5-point advantages over both of them.

The new survey also found that a majority of respondents disapproved of Biden's job as president. Fifty-six percent said they disapproved, while 42 percent said they approved.

The Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted from Jan. 22 to 23 with a sample of 2005 registered voters. The results of the poll have a margin of error of 2 percentage points.