Former President Donald Trump continues to hold a steady lead over current President Joe Biden leading up to the November election in the United States, as per a fresh CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
Trump’s maintained lead comes amidst his ongoing criminal trial in New York City.
The poll results show that a majority of Americans now view Trump’s term as a successful presidency, while a significant percentage considers Biden’s presidency to be a failure.
Trump retains 49% support among registered voters in a direct matchup against Biden, with Biden standing at 43%.
Looking back, 55% of Americans regard Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44% see it as a failure.
Regarding Biden’s time in office, 61% perceive his presidency as a failure, while 39% view it as successful.
Republicans appear more unified in considering Trump’s presidency a success compared to Democrats’ views on Biden’s presidency.
Specifically, 92% of Republicans deem Trump’s time in office successful, compared to 73% of Democrats who view Biden’s presidency favorably. Among independents, 51% see Trump’s presidency as successful, whereas only 37% perceive Biden’s presidency as a success.
The poll also indicates that 14% of Americans believe both presidents were failures, while 8% consider both to be successful.
About 47% of registered voters find Biden’s presidency so far to be a failure and Trump’s a success, while only 30% believe Biden has been successful but Trump was not.
Interestingly, negative views of Biden’s performance in office have been consistent throughout his tenure. In the recent poll, 60% disapprove of his job performance while only 40% approve, similar to CNN polling data from over a year ago.
In terms of issue approval ratings, Biden receives mixed responses. For instance, 45% approve of his handling of health care policy, and 44% approve of his approach to student loan debt. However, his handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas garnered the lowest approval rating – 28%, with a notable 71% disapproval rate, especially high among those under 35 and majority disapproval among Democrats (53%).
Biden also faces negative approval ratings regarding the economy (34%) and inflation (29%), underscoring voter concern over economic matters which are now more critical in candidate selection than in the past two presidential elections.