A new poll found President Biden is trailing former President Trump in five key battleground states, dealing the latest blow to Biden’s reelection campaign as it works to fend off criticism over the incumbent’s age and policies on various issues.
A new poll from The New York Times and Siena College shows Trump beating Biden in five out of the six battleground states that were polled, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania by margins of 3 to 10 percentage points among registered voters.
In Arizona, Trump picked up 49 percent support compared with Biden’s 44 percent, while in Georgia, Biden secured 43 percent compared with Trump’s 49 percent. Trump maintained a wide lead over Biden in Nevada with 52 percent to 41 percent.
Trump’s lead was smaller, but still notable in Michigan, with 48 percent support, while Biden secured 43 percent of the vote. In Pennsylvania, Trump garnered 48 percent while Biden had 44 percent.
Wisconsin, the sixth battleground state the poll surveyed, was the only state Biden maintained a slight lead in with a margin of 47 to 45 percent.
The poll marks a shift after the incumbent won the six states in 2020 when up against Trump, The New York Times reported.
The findings follow a series of recent polls that show Biden either locked in a tight race with Trump or trailing him. Biden’s campaign has reiterated the election is still more than a year away and that the president is working to mobilize voters to support his reelection bid.
The polling, coupled with Biden’s low approval ratings, has some in the political sphere expressing concerns.
In a post shortly after the poll was released, former President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod suggested that Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race in the wake of the poll.
”It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm,” Axelrod wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Only @JoeBiden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?” Axelrod continued.
Trump, 77, also appears to be favored by several voters when it comes to his age and mental competence, with the poll reinforcing a growing trend over concern for Biden’s age.
At 80, Biden is the oldest U.S. president in history. If reelected in 2024, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.
About 71 percent of registered voters surveyed in the poll said they agree to some degree that Biden is “just too old to be an effective president,” while only 39 percent said the same about Trump.
When asked if Biden has the “mental sharpness to be an effective president,” 62 percent of participants said no, while 35 percent agreed with the statement. Meanwhile, 52 percent of participants said they believe Trump has the mental sharpness to be an effective president, while 44 percent said he does not.
The New York Times/Siena College poll was conducted among 3,662 registered voters in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from Oct. 22 to Nov. 3, 2023. The margin of sampling error for each state is between 4.4 and 4.8 percentage points
