CNN anchor Dana Bash said Thursday that “there’s no way to spin” the most recent polling numbers for President Joe Biden.
A new CNN/SSRS poll found Biden leading former President Donald Trump 47 percent to 46, a statistical tie given the poll’s 3.5 percent error margin. Other candidates also performed well against Biden, with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (49-43), South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (46-44), former Vice President Mike Pence (46-44) and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (44-42) all leading the president. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tied with Biden 47-47, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy trailed him 46-45, well within the margin of error.
The poll also found that most Democrat-aligned voters prefer a candidate other than Biden in the 2024 race, citing his age and lack of stamina as the major reasons.
“Even though I started this program by saying, ‘There is no way to spin this,’ I will tell you what a source — before coming on with you guys — told me: [The Biden campaign] haven’t started really advertising, they haven’t started organizing, they haven’t started spending the money that they have in a big way and that it is very early and so on and so forth,” Bash said during an “Inside Politics” segment.
CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny said Biden’s age and his gaffes have impacted his public perception among voters. (RELATED: CNN Analyst Warns Biden-Trump Polls Are ‘Vastly Different’ From 2020 Election)
Seventy-six percent of respondents to the poll said they are “seriously concerned” about the 80-year-old president’s age. Just 26 percent believe Biden has the stamina and sharpness to serve out a second term.
The poll also found that 45 percent of respondents believe Biden “cares about people like you,” while 33 percent said they are “proud to have [Biden] as president.” Twenty-eight percent said Biden “inspires conference,” and 58 percent blamed his policies for worsened economic conditions. The poll also found that 46 percent of respondents believe any Republican would be better than Biden, while only 32 percent said Biden would be a better choice than any Republican.
SSRS conducted the CNN poll via online and telephone survey between Aug. 25-31 among a random national sample of 1,503 adults with a 3.5 percent error margin.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 51 percent of voters believe Trump has a record of accomplishments as president, while 40 percent say the same about Biden. It further found that 52 percent believe Trump has a “vision for the future,” whereas 44 percent say the same about Biden.