Nearly two-third of Americans don’t want President Biden to run for a second term in 2024, according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll.
The poll, which was conducted Wednesday through Friday last week, showed 64 percent of respondents do not want Biden to run again, including 28 percent of Democrats. Thirty-nine percent of respondents who voted for Biden last year said they hope he doesn’t run for another term, while 50 percent hope he will run.
Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating continues to fall: just 38 percent of Americans approve of the job the president has done, while 59 percent disapprove and 3 percent are undecided, the survey found.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ approval rating came in even worse, with 28 percent approval, 51 percent disapproval and 21 percent undecided.
Forty-six percent of respondents said Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected, including 16 percent of those who voted for him. Independents, by a 7-1 margin, say Biden has done worse, not better, than they expected (44 percent to 6 percent).
A majority of Americans — 66 percent — believe the country has gotten on the wrong track, while just 20 percent say it is headed in the right direction; figures that largely align with Americans’ unease during the final weeks of the Trump administration.
If the presidential election were today between Biden and Trump, 44 percent say they would vote for Trump, 40 percent for Biden and 11 percent for an unnamed third-party candidate. This comes just one year after Biden defeated Trump 54 percent to 47 percent.
The poll also suggests Republicans would have a strong showing if congressional races were held today, with respondents saying they would vote for their GOP congressional candidate over the Democratic one by 46 percent to 38 percent.
The poll comes as many political analysts have begun to speculate that Biden’s low approval ratings and Democrats’ struggle to pass the president’s agenda may have hurt Democrats in last week’s elections, including in Virginia where underdog Republican Glenn Youngkin narrowly defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Republicans are hoping the momentum will continue into the 2022 midterms, when the GOP hopes to take back the House and the Senate.
After a president is elected it is typical for his party to lose seats in the first midterm election. Republicans need to flip just five seats in the House and one in the Senate to retake control of the respective chambers next year.
Source: National Review
