Biden Vs. Trump: Voters Pick One Candidate As Better Bet To Handle Most Election Issues In New Poll - But Can Negative Opinion On This Top Concern Scuttle His Chances?

As President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump continue to make headway in their respective party’s presidential primaries, a new poll results released Thursday brought out the top election issues on top of voters’ minds and their opinions regarding the major contenders in the fray for the 2024 election.

Top Election Issues: Political extremism or threats to Democracy were mentioned by most respondents (21%) as the most important problem faced by America currently, the results of the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted online on Feb. 23-25 showed. The poll surveyed 1,020 Americans ages 18+ years, comprising 324 Democrats, 291 Republicans, and 301 independents. The poll has a margin of error of +/-3.3 points.

Economy, unemployment and jobs was the second-most mentioned issue (19%) followed by immigration (18%). Crime, corruption and War & conflicts were mentioned by 7% and 5% of the respondents, respectively.

Party-wise break-up showed that political extremism or threats to Democracy was the most important issue for both Democrats (37%) and Independents (21%). On the other hand, immigration (33%) and the economy remained major concerns for Republicans (23%).

Incidentally, political extremisms or threats to Democracy have never been a major concern over the years, with worries picking up only in 2024.

A majority of the respondents (71%) think the country is headed on the wrong track, with 50% of Democrats, 92% of the Republicans, and 72% of the Independents feeling likewise.

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Credentials Of Candidates: When asked who among Biden or Trump has a better plan or policy approach to the major election issues, the former received the nod for two issues and the latter for four issues.

Thirty-four percent of the respondents said Biden has a better plan and policy to take on political extremism, while 31% chose Trump for the same. Six percent chose others, 16% each said none and didn’t know, and 1% skipped the question.

On healthcare, people sided more with Biden (35%) than Trump (26%). On the other hand, 39% said Trump can better tackle the economy compared to 33% who picked Biden for the same. More respondents chose the former president over the incumbent for the economy (39% to 33%), handling the war, foreign conflicts or terrorism (36% to 30%), crime and corruption (36%-28%), and immigration (42%-26%).

Biden’s approval rating languished at the lowest point, with merely 37% of the overall respondents approving his job as president, while 58% disapproved. Among Democrats, 81% approve of Biden’s handling of his job as president, while the percentage of Republicans and Independents who approve are 5% and 34%, respectively.

The results of most opinion polls show that Trump is slightly ahead of Biden in hypothetical matchups, with the independent & third-party candidates and independent voters expected to play a big role in the final outcome. Trump’s legal overhangs may also upset the equation going into the Nov. 5 election.

Image Credits – Shutterstoch/Edited

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