NBC News correspondents recently revealed that "for the first time in the history" of its national general election poll, President Trump is ahead of Biden (46%-44%). Backlash over Biden's handling of Israel-Hamas war is said to be the reason.
Other polls nationally and in battleground states also have Trump beating Biden in a general election, and a recent Stack Data Strategy survey of 15,000 people found Trump beating Biden in the Electoral College, the New York Post notes.
Likewise, the Marquette University Law School's recent survey of registered voters shows all three of the top Republican presidential hopefuls defeating Joe Biden in head-to-head matchups. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley leads Biden by 10 points (55% to 45%), former President Trump leads 52% to 48%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a 51% to 49% advantage.
Among likely voters, Haley sees her advantage rise to 12% points (56% to 44%). The Biden-DeSantis hypothetical does not change with likely voters, while Trump's support decreases to 51% against Biden's 49%.
"My take on that poll shows Joe Biden's in deep trouble," responds Washing Times columnist Robert Knight. "At least three Republicans, including the former president, beat him in these polls, and there's been a growing chorus, mostly in the media, for Biden to step down somehow and make way for somebody like Gavin Newsom, which I think will happen eventually. I don't think it'll be Kamala Harris, because even the Democrats don't like her."
Conservative political observers have speculated in recent months that Democrats will replace Biden sometime next year with someone younger. But Dick Morris, a political consultant and New York Times bestselling author, does not believe that will happen.
"I think that the odds are that they're going to stay with Biden, because the cost of replacing him would just be too high politically," he predicts. "The Democratic Party will have a food fight between its left and its right wings, and I think that will make it very difficult for the Democrats to win."
He expects Biden will cling to power, "because he likes the bribes, and he needs the money."
"He also is afraid of what happens if he loses power and can't retain the power of the presidency, because he can be prosecuted for stuff that he's done," Morris adds.
As for Nikki Haley's ascent, Knight points out that it is yet to be seen whether her surge in popularity is permanent "or whether it's because she's seen as the fresh new face who's the alternative to the Trump juggernaut."
Meanwhile, he cannot understand why Gov. DeSantis," who has done such a great job in Florida," is so unpopular.
"He's made it one of the most important states in the country, he had a landslide re-election victory, he's solid on all the issues, and yet he keeps losing support," Knight observes.
Trump — the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — was up 1.6 percentage points in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polling. Among registered Republican voters, the Marquette Law School poll shows he maintains a substantial lead over all others in the primary field for the GOP nomination, with 54% of the total.
