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President Biden wanted to use the debate to change the dynamics of the 2024 race.
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But his poor performance raised eyebrows among Democrats and left him open to criticism within the party.
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In the latest USA Today/Suffolk University poll, Trump had a 41%-38% lead over Biden.
Weeks before the June presidential debate, Biden’s campaign attempted to shake up the dynamics of the race by agreeing to a meeting between the president and former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s team wanted the debate to make clear what they have long maintained: that the president is well-equipped for a second term and would be a more effective leader on the world stage.
But the president’s visible debate missteps have severely hampered his campaign in the eyes of major donors and even some Democratic lawmakers, robbing him of a potential polling surge that could have broken the race’s deadlock.
Instead, two major national surveys released after the election showed Biden trailing Trump.
In a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll, Trump led Biden 41% to 38% among registered voters, still within the ±3.1 percentage point margin of error.
However, a USA Today/Suffolk poll released in May found the two candidates tied (37% to 37%).
In the latest poll, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received the support of 8% of registered voters.
While the race remains close overall, Biden still trails Trump far in enthusiasm, a new USA Today/Suffolk poll finds.
Among Biden voters, 29% of respondents said they were “very excited” to vote for him, while 31% said they were “somewhat excited” to support him. A quarter (25%) of Biden voters said they were “not very excited” to support him.
As for Trump voters, 59% of respondents said they were “very excited” to support him, while another 23% said they were “somewhat excited” to support his candidacy. Only 11% of Trump voters said they were “not very excited” about his 2024 campaign.
CNN’s latest poll, conducted three days after the debate, showed Trump ahead of Biden, 49% to 43%.
Despite Democrats’ frustration with Biden’s performance, the results showed no change from CNN’s April poll.
But there were some important findings in the latest CNN poll:
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Vice President Kamala Harris is more competitive with Trump than Biden in a potential matchup if the president were to drop out of the race. Trump holds a narrow two-point lead (47% to 45%) over Harris among registered voters in such a scenario.
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In a potential Harris-Trump showdown, the vice president would receive 50% of female voters, compared to Biden’s current 43% share against the former president.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — all of whom have been mentioned as possible Biden replacements — all trail Trump by single-digit margins in hypothetical showdowns.
Read the original article on Business Insider
