Former President Donald Trump holds a significant lead among independent voters over President Joe Biden, a Wednesday poll found.
A Grinnell-Selzer poll found that Trump leads Biden with a 45% to 28% margin among Independent voters in a hypothetical 2024 presidential election. Exactly 20% of the Independent respondents surveyed said they would support another candidate and 7% would not vote at all. The poll surveyed 745 adults between Oct.13-17 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6% percentage points.
The poll discovered that Trump and Biden have an equal percentage of likely voters, 40%, that would vote for them in the next presidential election, while 14% said they would support a different candidate. Both candidates continue to hold firm support within their parties, with 80% of Republicans backing the former president and nearly 90% supporting Biden.
Biden’s support among Independent voters drastically declined since the 2020 presidential election. Previous 2020 exit polling showed Biden’s lead over Trump by a 54% to 41% margin among Independents, according to Ann Selzer of Selzer & Company.
“The president has time to turn his political fortunes around. But if it doesn’t happen soon, Democrats are likely to face a serious reckoning in the 2022 midterm elections,” Grinnell College National Poll Director Peter Hanson said, according to the poll.
Indies, if election held today:
Trump 45
Biden 28— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 20, 2021
The poll coincided with other recent polls that have shown the president’s significant fall in approval ratings. The president currently holds a 50% disapproval rating, while only 37% approve of his job performance. (RELATED: POLL: Biden’s Job Approval Rating Sinks To 37%)
Biden’s highest disapproval rating, 58%, is in response to his handling of the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the poll. Only 27% approve of his handling of immigration. In response to his handling of the economy, 53% disapprove of his job performance while 36% said they approve.
The Biden administration has been hit with widespread backlash for its handling of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan back in August, the ongoing supply chain disruptions, inflation, and for ordering COVID-19 vaccine mandates on private businesses.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the low approval ratings are related to the “really tough time in our country” at an Oct. 8 press conference. She cited the rise of the Delta variant and the high number of unvaccinated individuals as reasons for the polls’ results.
