Despite ongoing investigations and one indictment, two-thirds of Republican primary voters say they still support former President Donald Trump and dismiss concerns circling him, according to a new poll from NBC News.
The new numbers along with various polls showing the former president with a double-digit lead on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis make Trump the obvious and clear front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
The majority of Americans don’t want Trump or President Joe Biden to run for president in 2024, setting up an uninspired general election next year. Biden is expected to announce his re-election campaign in the coming days.
“At this stage, 2024 is shaping up to be a sequel of the 2020 election,” Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research told NBC News. “Sequels are frequently hits at the box office, but apparently not at the ballot box.”
The poll showed the majority of Americans do not want Biden due to his age. At 80 years old, they say the president’s age is a “major” reason why. Trump is 76 years old.
According to the poll, 46% of Republican primary voters pick Trump as their first choice, while 31% selected DeSantis. Vice President Mike Pence at 6%, and former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, Sen, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, are all tied at 3%. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has 2%.
However, the good news for the White House is the same poll found 41% of registered voters saying they’d definitely or probably vote for Biden while 47% who say they’d vote for the eventual Republican nominee. The other 12% are undecided.
Breaking things down by party shows 88% of Democratic voters say they’d definitely or probably vote for Biden, while with 22% of independents and only 3% of Republicans. Despite Biden’s low approval ratings, he remains more popular than Trump, 38% view Biden positively while 34% view Trump positively.
“Yes, Joe Biden has work to do, but he still is viewed less negatively than Donald Trump,” Horwitt said.
