New poll shows Biden with six-point lead on Trump

(The Hill) — President Biden is leading former President Trump by 6 points in a hypothetical 2024 presidential match-up, new polling shows.

In a Yahoo News-YouGov poll released Wednesday, 48% of registered voters said they’d cast their ballot for Biden “if the 2024 election were held today,” while 42% said they’d vote for Trump.

Biden held a 3-point lead in the hypothetical 2020 rematch in a similar August poll. Trump’s support was steady across both surveys.

The president’s widening lead over his predecessor comes in the wake of Biden’s “Soul of the Nation” speech last week. During the rare prime-time political address, Biden lambasted Trump and his “Make America Great Again” supporters as a danger to democracy.

Biden’s approval ratings have also been climbing back from record lows earlier this year amid a series of legislative wins for Democrats and declining gas prices. The new poll found the president with a 43% approval rating among registered voters.

More Democrats say Biden should run again than shouldn’t, a reversal of results from August.  

Last month, 43% of Democrats said Biden should not seek reelection, while 35% said he should. In the latest poll, 30% of Democrats said he shouldn’t and 44% said he should.

Democrats are also polling ahead of Republicans by 5 points on a generic congressional ballot, with 45% of registered voters saying they’d vote for the hypothetical Democratic candidate and 40% saying they’d back the Republican.

At the same time, just 24% of registered voters overall said Biden should seek reelection. Fifty-nine percent said he shouldn’t, and the rest were unsure. By contrast, 29% said Trump should run in 2024, while 60% said he shouldn’t.   

Conducted from Sept. 2 to Sept. 6, the poll surveyed 1,634 U.S. adults weighted by gender, age, race, education, voter registration status and 2020 presidential vote. The poll had a 2.6 percentage point margin of error.