Potential Biden, Trump rematch tightens: Survey
As the likelihood of a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump in November increases, the contest between the primary front-runners has tightened, according to a survey released Monday.
The poll, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, found that — amid Trump’s legal battles, and after a special counsel released a 388-page report on Biden following a classified documents probe — the two leading candidates do not remain very popular among voters.
Trump earned the support of 37 percent of respondents, while Biden earned 34 percent. About 10 percent said they plan to vote for other candidates, while 12 percent said they would not vote. The other 8 percent refused to answer, the survey found.
The survey polled Americans on their opinions of Biden and Trump, just days after special counsel Robert Hur released the 388-page report that found Biden “willfully” took documents from his time as vice president but did not recommend any charges against him and offered a scathing assessment of his mental acuity.
Trump is facing 40 charges for mishandling classified records and obstructing the government’s retrieval of them after leaving the White House. The files found at his Mar-a-Lago residence allegedly contained national defense information and top-secret documents.
While Trump has blown away his competitors in the Republican primaries — with just former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley remaining — the survey shows he may be losing steam. Tuesday’s poll found the former president’s lead over Biden has been cut in half, falling from a 6-point margin last month to just 3 points.
Voters also expressed concern over the former president’s ongoing legal battles, as he defends himself against a total of 91 criminal charges among four state and federal criminal indictments.
More than half — 55 percent — of respondents said they would not vote for Trump if he is convicted of a felony crime, while 25 percent said they would vote for him regardless.
If Trump were serving prison time, 58 percent said they would not vote for him, while 23 percent said they would still cast their ballot for the former president, and 18 percent said they were unsure.
Respondents were also worried about the age of the two candidates; Biden, 81, is the oldest president to serve in the Oval Office. Trump is 77.
Hur’s report described Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” The survey found that 78 percent of respondents believe Biden is too old to serve in government, and 53 percent said the same about Trump.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted among 1,237 respondents Feb. 9-12, has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.