President Joe Biden is heading into the 2024 election cycle while struggling to engage with independent voters on nearly every metric, polling from Economist/YouGov shows.
The data, if it remains until election day, is terrible news for the president as independent voters are an important voter bloc that frequently determines swing state outcomes.
Across nearly all vital fronts, Biden is underwater:
- Seventy-eight percent of independents say Biden is a weak leader. Only 30 percent say he is a strong one.
- Sixty-eight percent of independents say Biden’s America is on the wrong track, only 17 percent say it is going in the right direction.
- Seventy-six percent say his economy is in bad or poor shape. Seventeen say it is in good or excellent condition.
- Sixty-four percent disapprove of Biden’s handling of jobs and the economy. Just 22 percent approve.
- A majority (54 percent) disapprove of how Biden is handling his job. Only one third approves.
- Fifty-seven percent of independent voters also see Biden as unfavorable. Just 34 percent view him as favorable.
The polling coincides with independents’ view of Biden heading into the 2024 cycle as the oldest president in U.S. history. When looking ahead to the 2024 election, Biden again scored poorly with independents.
The poll asked independent voters, “Do you want Joe Biden to run for president again in 2024?” Sixty-three percent did not want Biden to run. Just 17 percent said they did.
“Do you think that Joe Biden is the strongest candidate that Democrats could nominate for president in 2024?” the poll asked. Fifty-eight percent said he was not the strongest Democrat candidate. Only 17 percent he was.
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In a general election matchup between Biden and former President Trump, the poll asked independents who they believe would win the election. Trump topped Biden by one point (36-35 percent).
The poll also asked, “If an election for president were going to be held now and the Democratic nominee was Joe Biden and the Republican nominee was Donald Trump, would you vote for…” Trump outperformed Biden by four points (36-32 percent).
The YouGov polling mirrors a rend in favor of Trump. Trump’s lead over Biden in a general matchup is typically between three to five points.
The poll sampled 1,357 registered voters from April 29-May 2 with a 3 point margin of error.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.