Trump inches ahead in 2024 race as Biden approval reaches new low, WSJ poll shows

President Joe Biden’s approval rating slipped beneath his disapproval rating in September, and it has not switched back since, per Project FiveThirtyEight polls. Former President Donald Trump’s slight advantage in polls ahead of the 2024 presidential election makes Biden the second sitting president since scientific polling began in 1943 to trail his opponent a year out from voting day, according to CNN.

In a recent poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal, 1,500 registered voters between Nov. 29 and Dec. 4 were asked who they favored in a hypothetical matchup between Trump and Biden. Trump was ahead by 4 percentage points, 47% to 43%, according to the poll, which had a margin or error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

When the choice expanded to include independent and third-party candidates, Trump won by an even larger 6 percentage point margin, 37% to 31%.

Though Biden has faced recent criticism from Democrats over his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, polls from Quinnipiac and Marquette suggest that slightly more “very liberal voters” support him now than during his 2020 campaign.

Many voters, including Democrats, feel as though Biden administration policies have hurt them personally. A narrow 23% of voters reported that Biden’s policies have helped them, while over half said they’ve been hurt personally by them.

On the other hand, about half of voters call Trump’s policies helpful, while 37% say they do more harm than good.

Most voters dislike Bidenomics but like his abortion policies

A September poll from Suffolk University/USA Today showed 70% of Americans believe “the economy is getting worse, not better.” Between March 2022 and May 2023, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates from 0.25-0.5% to 5-5.25%, Rocket Mortgage reported. Since the Federal Reserve’s initial increase in 2022, $2 trillion in wealth has been lost among the middle class, per Bloomberg.

The Wall Street Journal poll similarly showed that less than a third of registered voters age 35 and under view the economy as “in good shape,” while 40% of those 65 and older think it’s doing fine. This will prove to be a crucial issue since many young voters lean Democrat, and economic anxiety may influence how they vote.

However, while many of those surveyed dislike Bidenomics, they prefer Biden to Trump on handling abortion issues. The Journal’s poll showed 44% see Biden as a better option for handling abortion, while only 33% said Trump would be the better candidate on this issue.

Nearly three-quarters of voters think President Biden is too old

In The New York Times’ October survey, 3,662 registered voters across six states were asked if “Joe Biden is just too old to be an effective president,” and 73% agreed.

CNN’s November survey showed similar concern on the president’s age, with 74% agreeing Biden does not have “the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president.” The same survey showed that 47% of voters believe Trump is also too old to function adequately as president.

Reagan Jex, a sophomore at Utah Valley University, told the Deseret News about Biden, “It’s not so much his age that makes me uncomfortable about his capability to lead, it’s his comprehension and mental stability that make him unfit for the high office that he holds.” Jex compared the incumbent president’s age to Trump’s, saying though they’re similar, the former president is still mentally sharp.

Jex added it’s important for whoever the president is “to be able to make comprehensive statements and provide a strong and stable look to the country, otherwise we’ll continue to be seen by the world as a hilariously weakening superpower.”

If either Biden or Trump is elected in 2024, they will become the nation’s oldest president to ever be elected.