Trump viewed more capable than Biden on key issues, poll finds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More registered voters believe former President Donald Trump would do a better job than President Joe Biden tackling two of the top issues of the 2024 campaign, the economy and immigration, according to an exclusive poll by USA TODAY/Suffolk University taken after Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump.
The poll also found voters view Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, more capable of handling national security issues and dealing with China. Biden received higher marks than Trump on just two of six key issues surveyed: handling race relations and health care.
Perhaps most troubling for Biden: 51% of respondents said they now approve of Trump’s job performance when he was president from 2017 to 2021, compared to 41% who said they approve of Biden’s current job performance.
“He’s the real deal. Under him, let’s see, the economy was doing great. My life was a lot easier financially than it is now, and overall, I think he was well respected,” said Carol Crossland, a 56-year-old Trump supporter from San Antonio, Texas.
The findings add to the woes of a Biden campaign in crisis amid sinking poll numbers and calls for the 81-year-old Biden to withdraw from the race following his poor debate performance 10 days ago.
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The poll, a sample of 1,000 registered voters taken between June 28 and 30, found the 78-year-old Trump leading Biden 41% to 38%, a gain of three points for the former president since USA TODAY’s last poll in May, though it remains within the poll’s 3.1% margin of error. Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had support from 8% of voters and three others from about 1% each.
Biden has vowed he will press on in his campaign, telling a crowd at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin Friday, “I’m staying in the race.”
Nearly 60% of Americans view Trump as someone “who can get things done,” compared to 44% for Biden − even though Biden succeeded in getting sweeping laws passed in a divided Congress to address the climate, domestic manufacturing and historic infrastructure spending that Trump promised but failed to deliver in his four-year term.
The economy/inflation, the poll found, is the most important issue of 35% of voters, tops among all issues, second is threats to democracy, 21%, followed by immigration at 19%, abortion at 9% and a balanced Supreme Court at 7%.
But the economy remains a liability for Biden despite a historic jobs market, low unemployment and a booming stock market. Americans, by a 54% to 40% margin, believe Trump would do a better handling the economy than Biden.
“I feel as if Biden hasn’t pressed the issue enough about how bad the economy has gotten. It’s not his main concern,” said Robert Sawyer, a 23-year-old longshoreman who works on the docks in Baltimore and considers himself an independent voter. “I feel like the economy was better under Trump,” he said, pointing to inflation under Biden.
(The current annual inflation rate is 3.3%, less than half what it was two years ago coming out of the pandemic-inspired recession, but well above the 2% it hovered around from 2016 through 2019. Average hourly wages are currently increasing at 3.9% annually.)
Registered voters also trust Trump to handle immigration 53% to 40% over Biden; national security, 52% to 42%; and dealing with China, 51% to 41%. Biden is perceived as the better candidate to handle race relations, 51% to 41%, and health care 50% to 40%.
Throughout his three and a half years in the White House, Biden has faced criticism from Republicans over migration at the southern border. Last month, Biden took executive action to turn away migrants when the border is overwhelmed after congressional Republicans blocked compromise legislation that sought the same goal.
The poll did not ask respondents who they believe is better equipped to protect democracy − a theme the Biden campaign has made central to the president’s reelection bid.
In terms of leadership qualities, 63% of poll respondents said Trump has a “vision for the country,” compared to 54% who said the same of Biden. More voters, 46% to 42%, also said Trump will keep his promises as president.
But Biden fared better in other qualities. More voters said Biden is honest and trustworthy, 45% compared to Trump’s 33%. Sixty percent of respondents said Biden has the right experience to be president; 52% said Trump does.
“I definitely support Biden. Trump has got to go. We have a black cloud in our midst,” said Steve Cattron, a 67-year-old self-described moderate Democrat from Cape May County, New Jersey, who still supports Biden despite his rocky debate.
“I mean yes, he’s old, I feel he’s too old for the position,” said Cattron, who owns an electrical contracting company. “But I’d vote for him hands down before I vote for Trump. When someone can run as president and break every rule, every law, what does that do as far as integrity in our democracy?”
The USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found a troubling trend for the Biden campaign that’s been consistent in other polling. Despite Trump’s job approval rating often hovering below 40% when he was in the White House, voters now have a more positive view of the Trump years.
Trump left the White House in 2021 with a 34% Gallup approval rating, his all-time low. But the new USA/Suffolk University poll found 27% of respondents today “strongly approve” of Trump’s past job performance in office, while another 24% said they approve.
“The country was running just fine four or five years ago with him, and I can only see him doing a better job than he did last time because he has four years of experience,” said Zach Anderson, a 30-year-old maintenance technician form the south side of Chicago, who said he plans to vote for Trump.
As for Biden, Anderson said: “I think he’s just gotten old and there’s signs of dementia or something.”
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, said Biden and Trump are both disliked by a similar majority of Americans − Biden was viewed unfavorably by 57% of voters in the poll and Trump by 55%.
“There’s no difference there. They’re both disliked equally,” Paleologos said. “And the tiebreaker is job performance. There’s a small slice of people who will say during Trump’s administration − like him or not − I believe he did a better job.”
The broad discontent of both major-party candidates has some voters looking elsewhere.
Megan Hollar, a 40-year-old educator from Cincinnati, Ohio, said she puts herself in the camp of “we need some new faces.”
“I feel like we are stuck in old thoughts and old ways, and we’re not really moving forward in the country,” said Hollar, who is leaning toward voting for Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
Yet the poll found that Democrats are far more open to dumping Biden for a new nominee than Republicans are of abandoning Trump. While 41% of Democrats said they wanted Biden replaced at the top of the ticket, only 14% of Republicans and 12% of Trump supporters said the GOP should replace him on its ticket.
Still, many Democrats and anti-Trump independent voters said in a race against Trump, they’re happy to back Biden.
“Biden seems too old, and Trump can’t tell the truth,” said Steve Sutton, 55, who works in information technology in Seattle. But Sutton made clear he will vote for the Democrat running against Trump. “I’m a supporter of Biden and I’m a supporter of anti-Trump,” he said.
Shalia Murray, 57, of Round Rock, Texas, said she is still convinced Biden is the better candidate than Trump after the debate. “He’s honest, he’s experienced and he puts people before party,” Murray said of Biden. And even though Trump “may have been more coherent and easily understood” in the debate, she said she felt he was “lying and exaggerating.”
“I’m excited for voting for him,” Murray said of Biden, but worries others aren’t so enthused.
“I am concerned with the voter apathy in our area and across the country. I think people are more focused on age, rather than with what the reality of our everyday could be under the two different administrations,” she said.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.