Trump policies more helpful than Biden’s, voters say in sharp rebuke of sitting prez: poll
With former President Donald Trump and President Biden set to square off in eight months, a plurality of voters say the Republican challenger’s policies while in office were more helpful to them than the current president’s, according to a recent poll.
Only 18% of voters told the New York Times/Siena College survey that Biden’s policies benefited them personally, while 40% felt that Trump’s actions helped them out, the poll found.
When asked if they were negatively affected by one of the two chief executives, 43% said Biden’s actions hurt them, while only 25% felt the same way about Trump.
In almost every major demographic group sampled, voters felt more positive toward Trump’s policies than Biden’s, the poll found.
When asked if the incumbent’s policies had helped them personally, 19% of white voters, 17% of black voters, 15% of Hispanic voters, 17% of female voters and 18% of male voters agreed they had.
When asked the same question about Trump, 44% of white voters, 26% of black voters, 37% of Hispanic voters, 41% of male voters and 39% of female voters said his policies benefited them personally.
Biden’s campaign quickly came out swinging against the New York Times poll and others like it painting a bleak picture for the 81-year-old president.
“Polling continues to be at odds with how Americans vote, and consistently overestimates Donald Trump while underestimating President Biden,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.
“Joe Biden and Democrats continue to outperform while Donald Trump and the party he leads are weak, cash-strapped, and deeply divided. Our campaign is ignoring the noise and running a strong campaign to win — just like we did in 2020.”
The New York Times/Siena poll further found that Trump enjoyed 48% support among registered voters to 43% support for Biden — a margin that only narrowed by one percentage point (48% Trump, 44% Biden) when likely voters were surveyed.
The poll also found that 61% of Biden’s 2020 voters believe that he is too old to be effective in a second term. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all registered voters felt the same way about the incumbent, while 42% believed the same about Trump.
Trump also beat out Biden on favorability, scoring a net rating of -10 percentage points (44% favorable, 54% unfavorable), compared to Biden’s -21 rating (38% favorable, 59% unfavorable).
Still, the poll wasn’t all rosy for Trump, with more than half (53%) of registered voters saying they believe he committed serious federal crimes, while just 36% say he has not.
Trump is facing 91 criminal counts across four indictments and has pleaded not guilty to all of them.
The New York Times/Siena College poll sampled 980 registered voters between Feb. 25 and 28, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Historically, voters tend to reminisce on some prior administrations. For nine of the last 11 presidents, their approval ratings jumped an average of 12 percentage points, according to a Gallup survey.
Trump also enjoys a 2.3-point lead over Biden in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls of a potential general election rematch between the duo.
Biden is down against Trump in aggregates for most of the seven key battleground states.
The last time voters had two presidents square off in a general election was 1912 in the scrum between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, both of whom ultimately lost to Woodrow Wilson.
Grover Cleveland is the only US president to serve a non-consecutive two terms in office.
