Few Americans excited about possible Biden-Trump rematch: Poll

A possible rematch between President Biden and former President Trump is not exciting many Americans, despite the candidates holding wide leads in their respective parties, according to a new survey.

The Associated Press-NORC Research Center poll, published Thursday, found that 56 percent of U.S. adults overall, regardless of party affiliation, would be “very” or “somewhat” dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee. On the other side, about 58 percent said the same about Trump being the potential GOP nominee.

About 3 in 10 U.S. adults, or 28 percent, said they would be dissatisfied with both Trump and Biden becoming the nominee, with independents — 43 percent — more likely than Democrats (28 percent) or Republicans (20 percent) to express displeasure with both politicians clinching party nominations, the AP reported.

More Republicans, however, are more satisfied with Trump leading the ticket than Democrats are with Biden, pollsters found. Almost half — 49 percent — of Democrats said they would be “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the incumbent as their party’s nominee, while 65 percent of Republicans said the same about the former president.

When it comes to the nominating contests, less than half of Democrats and Republicans said they were confident their party would choose a candidate who could win the general election in November.

About 29 percent of Democrats said they are “very” or “extremely” confident their party will choose a winning nominee, while 33 percent of Republicans said the same, the poll found.

Negativity around the 2024 election doesn’t appear to be limited to the presidential candidates, either. Roughly 68 percent of those surveyed said they are pessimistic about the state of politics in the United States as a whole.

Republicans are more pessimistic than Democrats that their party’s primary votes will be accurately counted, with about 37 percent saying they have a great deal of confidence. A majority of Democrats, 72 percent, said the same about their party.

The poll’s findings come as Trump and Biden appear to be on their way to clinching their parties’ nominations — just weeks before the primary season kicks off with the Iowa caucuses.

Trump has maintained a strong lead in the polls since announcing his reelection bid, despite facing four criminal inducements and a civil fraud trial in New York. While Democrats don’t appear enthused about Biden as their prospective nominee, his primary challengers have struggled to gain significant momentum.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted Nov. 3 through Dec. 4 with 1,074 adults nationwide. The survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.