Trump widens lead over Biden in new CNN poll

A CNN poll released Tuesday added to recent concerns surrounding Joe Biden’s reelection bid, with the president falling further behind his 2020 opponent and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

A poll of registered voters showed Trump polling at 49 percent to Biden’s 45 percent in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, with the gap widening from the 47 percent to 46 percent lead Trump held in the same poll taken Aug. 25-31.

Biden was buffeted by a 39 percent approval rating. However, Trump’s approval rating was slightly worse at 38 percent, according to the poll.

Just 28 percent said things are currently going very or fairly well in the country under Biden’s presidency.

Of further concern for Biden: a mere 25 percent of those polled answered “yes” to the question of whether he “has stamina/sharpness,” while 74 percent said “no.” Trump received vastly better scores in that category, with 53 percent saying “yes,” and 47 percent “no.”

Among Democrats, 51 percent said Biden has the sharpness/stamina, compared with 90 percent of Republicans who say the former president does.

Among voters aged under 35, 48 percent supported Trump, while 47 percent favored Biden, a substantial narrowing of respective support within that category, which previously broke broadly for Biden.

The poll indicated that in a four-way race with independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, Trump led Biden, 41 percent to 35 percent, with Kennedy at 16 percent and West at 4 percent.

Biden falls behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in a hypothetical matchup, 49 percent to 43. A matchup between Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls within the margin of error, at 48-46 in DeSantis’ favor.

The poll was conducted online and by phone from a representational sample of the population from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, 2023, with a sample size of 1,514 and a margin of error of +/- 3.1.

Calls for Biden to reconsider his campaign have amplified as recent polling suggested an increasingly rocky road to reelection.

Trump edged out Biden in important battleground states in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Sunday, leading him by 48 percent to 44 percent among voters in six key states.

After that poll was published, David Axelrod, who advised former President Barack Obama, raised concerns about the president’s chances on social media. He later clarified his comments.

Kennedy’s potential to act as a spoiler in the presidential race was reflected in a recent Quinnipiac poll, which put him at 22 percent of the overall vote. Biden led Trump in that potential race, earning 39 percent of the vote to his rival’s 36 percent.

Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota, launched his campaign to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination last month, citing the president’s age and unpopularity — but describing him as a “terrific president.”