President Joe Biden, who is running for a second term, is facing an uphill battle in the forthcoming presidential election and may not be able to capitalize on his archrival Donald Trump's multiple legal woes, going by the results of a new poll.
What Happened: Biden's age and negative opinion regarding his economic policies could be big deterrents for his re-election, according to the results of a Wall Street Journal poll conducted on Aug. 24-30.
The poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Michael Bocian along with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, surveyed 1,500 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points.
“Voters are looking for change, and neither of the leading candidates is the change that they're looking for,” Bocian told the Journal.
Unimpressed With Economic, Foreign Policies: About 59% of the respondents disapproved of Biden's handling of the economy, compared to 37% who approved. The president also got a thumbs down from respondents on how he handled inflation and rising costs, with 63% disapproving and 34% approving, according to WSJ.
Despite the strong job growth seen for much of Biden's tenure, the percentage of voters who approved his handling of the job market as well as the percentage who disapproved were at 47% each. On infrastructure improvement, 47% disapproved, compared to 45% who approved.
The president did not rank high on his foreign policy, with the percentage of people disapproving outnumbering the percentage who approved his securing of the border, handling of the U.S.-China relationship and stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Too Old For Office: A set of questions about his temperament and personality traits elicited mixed reactions. Biden, who is 80 years old, was considered to be too old to run for office by 73% of the respondents, the WSJ poll found.
Trump, who is only three years younger, was considered too old by only 47% of the respondents. This is apparently due to Biden's episodes of lapses in public.
The other aspects where Biden trails Trump were on mental fitness for the job of the president, vision for the future and strong record of accomplishments as president. But President Biden had an edge over his predecessor in honesty, and being a likable person.
Biden lagged slightly behind Trump when it came to voters’ perceptions of their compassion. While 43% of respondents felt that Trump was caring, only 42% thought the same of Biden.
“If this race is about personality and temperament, then Biden has an advantage. If this race is about policies and performance, then Trump has the advantage,” Fabrizio told the Journal.
Head-to-Head Match Up. If Biden is pitched against Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, both garner 46% support.
A majority viewed Trump's actions after the loss in the 2020 presidential polls as an illegal effort to stop Congress from declaring Biden as the winner, the Journal reported.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earned the favorability opinion of only 37% of the voters. Trump held a 39-point lead over DeSantis in the Republican primary race, with the former the choice of 49% of the respondents if the elections were held now. The Florida governor could bag the support of only 13% of the respondents, although a 35% plurality of Republican voters picked DeSantis as their second choice.
The iShares TIPS Bond ETF TIP, an exchange-traded fund tracking the investment results of an index composed of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury bonds, ended Friday's session down 0.52% at $105.20, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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