Former President Trump has gone ahead of President Biden in their 2024 election rematch in the aftermath of last week's presidential debate, according to a new national poll conducted in the wake of Biden's extremely rough performance during Thursday's face-to-face showdown between the two major party contenders.
Trump stands at 41% support and Biden at 38% among registered voters nationwide in a USA Today/Suffolk University survey conducted Friday through Sunday and released on Tuesday.
The Democratic incumbent in the White House and his Republican predecessor were tied at 37% in the previous USA Today/Suffolk University poll, which was conducted in May.
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Democrat turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood at 8% support in the new survey, with Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver, independent Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein each registering at around 1% support.
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Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation's history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate, sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers, and some party politicians and donors for Biden to step aside as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.
While Trump's advantage in the new survey is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, there are other warning signs for Biden.
In numbers from the poll released on Monday afternoon, 41% of Democrats questioned said they wanted Biden replaced at the top of the Democratic Party ticket.
Only 14% of Republicans surveyed said they would like to see Trump replaced at the top of the GOP ticket.
"There's no question the debate sent out shock waves across the political landscape," Suffolk Political Research Center director David Paleologos said. "Democrats in the poll are offering tough love to President Biden by saying to him, 'You've served us well, but try to see yourself last Thursday night through our eyes. Hold your head up high, it's time to go.'"
The poll also indicates that Trump now leads Biden 25% to 17% as the second choice for voters currently backing one of the third-party or independent candidates. That is a switch from late last year, when Biden had the edge.
"After Thursday night’s debate, the Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll measured Biden’s poor debate performance and the resulting landscape shift that has essentially prevented those third-party voters from coming around to Biden," Paleologos told Fox News. "In fact, the debate produced a group of voters who are now not comfortable with voting for Biden as either a first or second choice."
The survey also indicates that Trump supporters – at 59% – are much more excited about their candidate than Biden backers – at 29%. Such a large enthusiasm gap, if it holds, could be consequential when it comes to convincing supporters to actually vote in the autumn election.
The survey questioned 1,000 registered voters across the country, reaching them by telephone landlines and cell phones.
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