President Joe Biden could face an uphill climb to reelection in 2024, but would currently fare well against the leading Republican contenders for the White House, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll.
Biden currently trails by a margin of 46% to 37% when respondents were asked if they prefer him or a “generic Republican” in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup, according to the poll. But when polled against leading Republicans former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Biden beats each of them head-to-head.
NEW POLL: @JoeBiden would lose badly to a generic Republican, 46% to 37%.
But BIDEN would beat leading Republican prospects head to head, including:
➡️ DONALD TRUMP
➡️ MIKE PENCE
➡️ RON DESANTIS
➡️ TED CRUZ https://t.co/tWnmTZxbPL pic.twitter.com/WYDP1dqIoV— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 26, 2022
Biden led Trump 45% to 44%, Cruz 45% to 39%, Pence 44% to 42% and DeSantis 44% to 39%, the poll found. It was conducted between Jan. 22-23 and had a margin of error of 2%, with 2,005 registered voters as respondents.
Individual polling numbers for the president continued to be weak. Only 32% of voters said the country was on the right track, and only 42% approved of his job performance, compared to 55% who disapproved. An overwhelming plurality of respondents — 40% — said the economy was the most important issue to them, followed distantly by “security issues” and health care.
But the perceived frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 didn’t poll particularly well, either. DeSantis had an approval rating of 30%, a disapproval of 32%, and 20% who had never heard of him. For Pence, approval was at 40% with disapproval at 48%.
Trump was 13 points underwater, with a disapproval rating of 55% compared to just 42% approval. Cruz was even less popular, with only 34% approval versus 46% disapproval. (RELATED: POLL: Less Than Half Of Democrats Want Biden To Run For Reelection)
Still, Biden has his own issues to contend with. A recent Quinnipiac poll measured him with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, at 33%.