One year before the US election
Survey sees Trump ahead in battleground states
November 6th, 2023, 5:21 p.m
In US presidential elections, the important so-called swing states often decide who moves into the White House. According to a survey, things are currently not looking particularly good for incumbent Biden. It’s not just his age that turns out to be a disadvantage.
A year before the US presidential election, according to a survey, things are not looking good for incumbent President Joe Biden. The New York Times reports via a survey together with Siena College, according to which Biden is trailing Donald Trump, the candidate for the Republican nomination, in five of the six key battleground states. However, the error tolerances are between 1.8 and 4.8 percentage points.
The survey surveyed a total of 3,662 voters in the six states of Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania between October 22nd and November 3rd. The survey showed that both candidates were unpopular, but voters tended to take their frustration out on the president, writes the New York Times.
According to the survey, the Democrat Biden is only leading in the state of Wisconsin. In the “swing states” of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania – all states that are particularly hotly contested between Democrats and Republicans – Trump led by four to ten percentage points, wrote the New York Times. In the 2020 US presidential election, Biden won all six states against Trump, the paper continued.
Biden’s age in particular turned out to be a disadvantage in the survey, as the newspaper writes – even though he is only about four years older than his most likely opponent, Trump. A majority of 71 percent believed that the soon-to-be 81-year-old Biden was too old to be a competent president. When it comes to Trump, however, 39 percent of those surveyed agreed or somewhat agreed that he was too old.
By 59 percent to 37 percent, respondents said they trusted Trump more than Biden on the economy. Respondents also preferred Trump on issues of immigration policy and national security. Biden’s strongest issue was abortion. Here, voters trusted him nine percentage points more than Trump.
President Biden is running for a second term among the Democrats – without serious competition. Among the Republicans, ex-President Trump is currently far ahead in polls among his party’s candidates. This could lead to another race between the two. Who ultimately runs as a party’s official candidate is determined in internal party primaries in the months before the election.