A Monmouth University poll released on Monday shows that outside of members of their party, few US registered voters are happy about the prospect of voting for either US President Joe Biden or former US President Donald Trump for the 20204 election.
While the poll shows voters are not happy with either choice, Biden performed significantly worse than his likely Republican opponent in most of the survey's questions.
Only 37% of voters say they are either “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about Trump becoming the Republican nominee for president, and an even lower percentage, 32%, say the same about Biden.
The only group of voters that Trump and Biden performed well in were those inside their respective parties, though Trump outperformed Biden there as well. Some 78% of Republicans said they were enthusiastic about Trump, with 47% saying they were “very enthusiastic.”
Another 68% of Democrats said they were enthusiastic about Biden but less than a third (29%) of Democrats described themselves as “very enthusiastic” about the prospect of a Biden nomination.
Independents are particularly turned off by both likely candidates from the two major parties. Only 32% of Independents say they will “definitely” or “probably” vote for Biden. Trump performed slightly better, with 43% saying the same about him.
The findings left roughly 25% of Independent voters saying they will “definitely not” or “probably not” vote for either candidate.
Combined with the 14% of Democrats who say the same about Biden and the 12% of Republicans who say that about Trump, a total of roughly 51% of registered voters are considering either voting for the party’s other candidate, not voting at all, or planning to vote for a third-party candidate.
There has not been a significant third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992, when the outsider businessman briefly led in the polls and ended with 18.91% of the popular vote.
Another concerning response in the poll for the Biden administration seems to be a lack of support from what would traditionally be his base. More than half of the respondents who said they identify as liberal (regardless of party affiliation) are either “not at all enthusiastic” or “not too enthusiastic” about a Biden nomination. By contrast, only 38% of voters who identified as conservative felt the same about Trump.
The poll also reflected previous polling about the two candidates’ ages. About 48% of voters in the questionnaire said they feel Trump is too old to serve another presidential term, while 80% said the same about Biden.
The commander-in-chief is currently 80 years old while Trump is 77. While three years does not seem like a big gap between the two, other factors may be in play, including a series of high-profile gaffes by Biden, including multiple incidents where he seemed to shake hands with thin air.
The one silver lining in the poll for the Biden administration is that voters do not yet see the impeachment inquiry against him as something worth being impeached over. Only 34% of voters say Biden’s actions are worthy of impeachment, with an additional 16% saying he “may have violated [his] oath” but not in a way that warrants impeachment.
By contrast, 46% of voters say Trump committed a crime in his response to the 2020 election and another 29% say he did something wrong but not criminal.
Meanwhile, only 27% of voters say the legal troubles of first son Hunter Biden will make them less likely to support Biden in the election.
Biden was also viewed slightly less unfavorably than Trump, with 45% of respondents saying they have a "very unfavorable" view of him, compared to 50% of voters who said that about Trump.
The survey was conducted between September 19 and 24 among a total of 737 registered US voters.