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A new poll shows President Joe Biden losing to former president Donald Trump in 2024 as Mr Biden’s support among Black, Latino and young voters has dropped.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll showed that the president has failed to consolidate parts of the coalition that propelled him to the White House in 2020. Mr Trump, who has a commanding lead in every state that holds an early nominating contest for the Republican nomination for president, beats Mr Biden in a head-to-head with 39 per cent compared to Mr Biden’s 37 per cent.
Only 63 per cent of Black voters support Mr Biden. In 2020, Black voters propelled him to victory in the South Carolina primary, which led to him winning the Democratic nomination. In his victory speech in November, he thanked Black voters, saying “You’ve always had my back, and I’ll have yours.”
But one in five Black respondents said that they would back a third-party candidate in 2024. Conversely, 12 per cent of Black voters support Mr Trump, the same amount of support he received in 2020.
Mr Trump also beats Mr Biden with Hispanic voters, as 39 per cent support Mr Trump versus 34 per cent who support the incumbent president. In 2020, Mr Biden won 65 per cent of the Hispanic voters, according to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University.
Similarly, Mr Biden has the support of only 33 per cent of voters younger than 35 compared to Mr Trump, who has the support of 37 per cent of voters in that demographic. In recent months, young voters have expressed deep dissatisfaction with Mr Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Mr Trump’s supporters are also far more enthusiastic about supporting him, with 44 per cent of his supporters saying they are a “10” on a scale measuring enthusiasm. By comparison, only 18 per cent of Mr Biden’s voters rate themselves as a “10.”
Vice President Kamala Harris fares worse than Mr Biden. Despite her multiple trips to historically Black colleges and universities, only 27 per cent of young voters approve of her compared to 32 per cent who approve of Mr Biden. Despite being the first Black female vice president, only 56 per cent of Black voters approve of her.
Overall, only 33 per cent of respondents approve of Ms Harris’s job performance.
Still, the number of respondents who say the economy is improving rose from 21 per cent in October to 29 per cent in December amid news reports about inflation easing and low unemployment.
