According to a new poll, a record number of Americans believe they are doing worse financially under President Joe Biden’s leadership.
According to the ABC News/Washington Post poll, 41% of respondents said they were financially worse off since Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, the highest figure for the question in 37 years.
In contrast, under Trump’s administration, 25% of respondents said they were better off, while 13% said they were worse off.
The poll also found that former President Donald Trump would easily defeat Biden in a hypothetical matchup, with 48% of respondents voting for Trump and 44% voting for Biden. The margin shrank by one percentage point when restricted to registered voters.
The poll is the latest data point in the Democratic Party’s debate over whether Biden should run for re-election or be replaced as the party’s candidate in the 2024 election. Many people are pointing to his advanced age as a problem that could turn off many voters from supporting his reelection campaign.
Only 44% of respondents who identified as Democrats or independents leaning Democratic supported Biden as the party’s nominee in 2023. Nearly half, 49%, believe the party should select another nominee.
In July, the president became enraged with a reporter after he asked him to respond to polling that showed many Democrats did not want him to run again.
“They want me to run,” he exclaimed to the reporter. “You all look the same. According to the poll, 92% of Democrats would vote for me if I ran.”
Biden is expected to highlight his economic policies during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. While the unemployment rate remains low, wage growth has been modest and has been largely undermined by the plague of high inflation.
According to the poll, 53% of Americans disapproved of Biden’s job performance, while only 42% approved.
