US public sours on a Biden-Trump election rematch in 2024

Most of those surveyed, by a 70% to 26% margin, said that Biden should not seek re-election, while 60% said Trump should bow out of the race, compared with 35% who want him to run.

Biden is looking to formally announce as early as this week that he’s running for a second term, according to people familiar with the matter. His approval ratings remain underwater, with 41% in the NBC poll approving of his job as president compared with 54% who disapproved.

Trump, meanwhile, has emerged as the strong frontrunner for the GOP nomination. He’s the first choice of 46% of Republican primary voters in the survey, compared with 31% who favoured Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and 6% who favoured former vice-president Mike Pence.

Biden’s age was the top reason registered voters gave for wanting him to step aside in the 2024 race. The president is 80, while Trump is 76.

Republican primary voters mostly dismissed recent criminal charges filed against Trump in New York State alleging he falsified business records over a hush-money payment related to an alleged affair with former porn star Stormy Daniels. In the survey, 68% said the charges were politically motivated.

The April 14-18 poll of 1,000 adults by Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error for the poll’s 800 registered voters is 3.46 points, and the margin of error among the 292 Republican primary voters is 5.99 points.