President Biden performs best among several high-profile Democrats in hypothetical general election match-ups against former President Trump, according to a new poll.
The Emerson College survey released Friday found Biden trailing Trump 45 percent to 44 percent — with the 1 point difference within the margin of error — in a hypothetical rematch, with 11 percent undecided.
Polling has shown Biden with an approval rating around 40 percent and most Americans wanting candidates other than him and Trump this November, but the Emerson survey found he was more competitive against the former president than a few other top Democrats.
In a hypothetical match-up, Trump leads Vice President Harris 46 percent to 43 percent and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) 46 percent to 36 percent. He also leads Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) 45 percent to 33 percent.
Newsom and Whitmer have increasingly gained national attention as prominent Democrats, and pundits have included them as possible future presidential candidates.
In the aftermath of the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, which said he appeared in an interview as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” the president has faced increased questions about his mental acuity to serve for another term.
Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) is running against Biden in the Democratic primary largely centered on the argument Biden is not up for four more years in office and his low approval ratings would cost him the election against Trump.
But he has struggled to gain much traction in the race, and Biden has overwhelmingly won the primaries that have been held so far.
Pollsters for Emerson found a higher percentage of voters who said they were undecided in the match-ups with Newsom and Whitmer than with Biden or Harris. Only 11 percent were undecided in the match-up with Harris, while 18 percent were undecided with Newsom and 22 percent were undecided with Whitmer.
The poll found when Trump and Biden face each other in a match-up with third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein, Trump leads Biden 40 percent to 38 percent. Kennedy receives 7 percent, while West and Stein each have 1 percent.
Almost 60 percent of voters said Biden’s age and the multiple criminal indictments against Trump raise serious concerns about their willingness to vote for them.
The poll was conducted from Feb. 13-14 among 1,225 registered voters. Its margin of error was 2.7 points.