MSNBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki explained why a match-up with former President Donald Trump could spell bad news for President Joe Biden.
Kornacki pointed to an NBC News poll published Sunday showing “concerning numbers” for Biden, which holds Trump in the lead 47% to 42%. Trump’s popularity has risen since November when he led Biden by two points with 46% to 44%.
The data guru compared the current numbers to the 2020 presidential election cycle, where Biden led Trump in every NBC News poll by several points. The president initially led Trump by four points in a poll from June 2023 before his number dropped in the coming months. Biden and Trump tied in a September 2023 poll, before the former president snatched dominance over Biden in November and February.
Kornacki blamed Biden’s record-low approval ratings for his alarming polling numbers against Trump. The NBC News polls presented in the segment found 37% of participants approve of Biden’s job performance, while 60% disapprove.
Surveyors consider the economy and securing the border as the most important issues and trust Trump to handle these issues by a wide margin. Fifty-five percent of participants said they prefer Trump to handle the economy and 57% trust Trump to secure the border. A total of 33% and 22% said they preferred Biden on these issues.
About twice as many voters believe Trump has the necessary mental and physical health necessary to sit in the Oval Office, with Trump holding a steady lead of 46% to 23%, the poll showed. These numbers drastically dropped for Biden since 2020 as nearly the same amount of participants believed they had the capacity. (RELATED: Trump Leads Biden In Key Swing State That Helped Decide The 2020 Election: Poll)
Kornacki said the “most concerning” portion of the poll is the drop in voters believing Biden has the competency and effectiveness for the presidency. In June 2020, Biden led Trump by nine points on the issue of competency 47% to 32%. Trump now leads Biden on this question by a whopping 16 points, with Biden’s numbers dropping from 47% to 32%.
Kornacki warned the competency polling likely cost Trump the election in 2020, insinuating it may have the same outcome for Biden in the upcoming election.
“This was Biden’s big advantage in 2020,” Kornacki warned. “He led this question by nine points in our polling in 2020. Trump now leads Biden in our poll by 16 points on this number. The simple competent and effective as president that hurt Trump four years ago and probably cost him the election is helping him now in our poll.”
Several polls have shown Biden trailing behind Trump in key swing states. An Emerson College poll from November found Trump dominating in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania by anywhere from 2 to 8 points.
The NBC News poll was conducted between Jan. 25-30 with a 3.1% margin of error.