A 60% majority of registered respondents indicated that they did not think Biden was “mentally ready” to be president. The newspaper reported that 73% of respondents said Biden was too old to be president. This is much higher than the response they gave to Trump who is only 77. It was conducted by Democratic pollster Michael Bocian and Tony Fabrizio, the former pollster for Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Majorities of registered voters said they disapproved of how Biden has handled the economy (59%), inflation (63%) and growth of the middle class (58%), according to the poll. Respondents were split on Biden’s effort to create jobs, a paramount concern for the administration as it has worked to recover the nation from the impact of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Voters also gave Biden net negative approval ratings on his handling of the war in Ukraine and U.S. dealings with China.
The poll shows Biden failing to reverse widespread pessimism around the economy, despite a summer-long push to tout his record and take credit for positive developments — including slowing inflation and a rosier GDP outlook — as being the result of “Bidenomics. In a Labor Day address in Philadelphia, Biden repeatedly attacked Trump over his economic record. He accused “the last guy,” of ceding U.S. job to China and placing U.S. Pensions “at risk.” “
The last guy looked out at the world on Park Avenue,” Biden stated. I look at it in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “
But while a 24% plurality of voters in the latest poll said the economy was top of mind for the 2024 presidential election, they once again overwhelmingly said the country was headed in the wrong direction, with just 23% expressing a more positive outlook.
Nearly two-thirds of registered voters, 63%, said they viewed the strength of the U.S. economy negatively, including 36% who called it “poor.” Worse for Biden, 58% of registered voters said the economy has gotten worse over the past two years, compared to 28% who said it has gotten better.
Inflation is a major pain point: 74% of respondents said it has moved in the wrong direction over the past year.
Most voters, 86%, said the cost of housing has gone in the wrong direction over the past year. More than half of respondents, 54%, said their personal financial situation has worsened in the same period.
On the job market, however, voters were split, with 45% saying it has moved in the right direction and 44% saying it has moved in the wrong direction in the past year.
Voters were evenly split on which candidate they would support if the 2024 election were held today, with both Trump and Biden getting 46% support.
The two party leaders are viewed equally unfavorably in the poll, with 58% of respondents giving a negative opinion of each figure and 39% saying they viewed the candidates favorably.
“Voters are looking for change, and neither of the leading candidates is the change that they’re looking for,” Bocian told the Journal.
Trump’s biggest Republican primary challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scored even lower, with only 37% of respondents expressing a positive opinion. Only 13% of GOP voters said that they would vote DeSantis. This is an 11-point decline since April, when the pollster last asked this question. Nikki Haley.