(The Hill) – Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the only GOP presidential candidate who is leading in a hypothetical matchup with President Biden, according to a new poll.
The CNN poll, released Thursday and conducted by SSRS, found that Haley led Biden 49 percent to 43 percent, while every other major Republican candidate remains neck-and-neck with Biden.
No other GOP hopeful — including former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former President Trump — showed more than a 2-point margin in the matchup with the sitting president.
When asked about a potential rematch between Trump and Biden, 47 percent said they would choose the former president and 46 percent said they would chose the current president. Five percent said they would choose a different candidate and 2 percent said they did not plan to vote.
The poll also found that 46 percent of voters said any Republican presidential nominee would be better than Biden in next year’s election, while 32 percent said the sitting president would be a better choice than any of the GOP hopefuls. In comparison, 44 percent said that any Democratic nominee would be better than Trump, while 38 percent say the former president is better than any Democratic nominee.
Among Democrats, the poll discovered that 67 percent would like to see the party nominate someone other than Biden — which is up from the 54 percent who said the same in March. Out of those who would like to see a different candidate, 82 percent said they did not have any specific person in mind. Just 1 percent said that they would vote for either of Biden’s 2024 challengers: author Marianne Williamson or Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The poll was conducted be SSRS from Aug. 25-31 among 1,259 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.