Americans think former President Donald Trump will do better than President Biden at handling a series of key issues — including the economy, immigration and foreign policy — but the Republican still trails the incumbent among the likeliest voters in next year’s election, new polling has found.
The Marquette Law School survey found that among respondents who said they were “absolutely certain” to cast a ballot for president in 2024, Biden led Trump by 51% to 49%. Trump led the president by 25 percentage points (62% to 37%) among those who said they were “less than certain” to vote.
Trump also led Biden by 24 percentage points, 52% to 28%, when asked which man would do a better job on the economy — and 23 percentage points (50% to 27%) when asked who would be best at curbing inflation.
The 45th president had a slightly smaller advantage over Biden (49% to 30%) on the question of creating jobs and a narrow edge (43% to 38%) on the issue of foreign relations.
The Marquette poll was released one day after a Gallup survey that indicated more Americans trust Republicans than Democrats on the economy by 53% to 39%, the widest spread in favor of the GOP on the question since 1991.
Gallup respondents also gave Republicans big edges over Democrats on national security (57% to 35%) and “handling the problem you think is most important” (44% to 36%).
Still, public perception of the Republican Party remains underwater, with 56% of Americans holding an unfavorable view of the GOP, compared to just 42% who hold favorable views. Democrats fared even worse, with 58% holding an unfavorable view and 40% holding a favorable view.
In the Marquette poll, respondents said they trusted Biden over Trump on three issues: Medicare and Social Security (39% to 37%), abortion policy (43% to 34%) and climate change (44% to 24%).
Trump holds a 1.1-percentage point edge over Biden in the popular vote, 45.5% to 44.4%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.
No Republican presidential nominee has won the popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004.
Democrats’ lackluster standing with the public on key economic issues comes amid the White House’s promotion of so-called “Bidenomics,” with Biden, 80, touring the country touting his policies and push to revitalize the manufacturing sector.
Both the Marquette and Gallup polls were in the field days before the House Republican conference was engulfed by chaos earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a gang of eight House Republicans banded with a united Democrat conference to depose former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), thrusting the GOP-led lower chamber into chaos.
Right now, the House of Representatives’ business has ground to a halt with a looming Nov. 17 deadline to forestall a partial government shutdown.
Additionally, Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, finds himself embroiled in a hotbed of litigation, with 91 criminal counts pending against him.
The Marquette poll was conducted Sept. 18-25 among 868 registered voters with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 percentage points.
The Gallup survey was taken among 1,106 adults Sept. 1-23 with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.0 percentage points.
