NBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki warned Tuesday President Joe Biden’s job approval rating is in “perilous territory” for an incumbent amid a new poll showing Biden has serious competition against former President Donald Trump.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll found Trump leading Biden by 11 points on the question of who had a better record. Trump also led Biden by 10 points in perceived mental fitness to hold office. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said the economy has gotten worse over the past two years, with a majority of those polled disapproving of Biden’s handling of the economy.
The poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters between Aug. 24 and 30 and had a plus or minus 2.5% margin of error.
“The other major finding of this poll, 46/46, Trump tied with Biden. You might be surprised, given, again, with general election voters looking at all of Trump’s legal problems, Trump’s loss in 2020, the underperformance of his candidates in 2022. Look, the dynamic is a little different if it is a Trump/Biden rematch. Biden would be the incumbent president, and the incumbent president in this poll has a 42% job approval rating. That’s perilous territory for an incumbent.”
Kornacki also noted several specific qualities voters were asked about during the poll, noting while Biden beats Trump in likability, voters largely see both candidates as corrupt. Kornacki then brought up statistics on Biden’s mental fitness. Among those polled, 46% say Trump is mentally up for the job while only 36% say Biden is. Nearly 75% of those polled say Biden is too old to run, while 47% said the same for Trump. (RELATED: ‘I Can’t Believe I’m Saying This’: WaPo Reporter Says There’s A ‘Real Risk’ Of Trump Winning In 2024)
“You’re talking about an election that is going to be decided, if it is Trump versus Biden again, it’s probably gonna be decided on the edges, on the margins. Is age, that question of being mentally up for the job, is that the kind of thing that could cost Biden a point or two on the edges?”
Biden on Monday addressed concerns about his age, telling the crowd that with age comes wisdom.