A vast majority of Republican voters are more pleased with former president Donald Trump than Democrats are with President Joe Biden, as both presumptive nominees prepare for the first 2024 presidential debate.
Seventy-nine percent of Republicans said they are enthusiastic about their nominee, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday hours ahead of the CNN debate. By contrast, only 42 percent of Democrats said the same with theirs and 56 percent said they would prefer another candidate to represent them in the November election.
Republicans viewed Trump similarly four years ago, with 81 percent expressing enthusiasm in a 2020 Gallup poll. Biden, however, has since experienced a significant popularity drop since 2020, when 56 percent of Democrats were satisfied with him.
For comparison, 64 percent of Democrats said they were pleased with Hillary Clinton after she secured the party’s nomination in 2016. Four years earlier, 84 percent of Democrats said the same of Barack Obama when he ran for reelection. Meanwhile, 45 percent of Republicans were satisfied with Trump after the 2016 GOP nominating convention. In 2012, 66 percent were pleased with Mitt Romney when he became the presumptive Republican nominee.
Voters are concerned about the ages of both Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, with the incumbent’s age being seen as a greater liability. A combined 75 percent of respondents said they are very concerned or somewhat concerned about Biden’s age, while only 38 percent said the same of Trump.
While Trump has an edge over Biden, both candidates are viewed unfavorably. Trump currently has a 46 percent favorability rating, and Biden stands at 37 percent. Despite the majority of Americans viewing him unfavorably, Trump has increased by four percentage points in favorability since December. Biden has decreased by the same number of points over the same period.
The latest favorability ratings mark a new low for Biden, while Trump is at his highest since April 2020 when he attained 49 percent favorability. Gallup conducted the national poll from June 3-23, following Trump’s 34-count felony conviction in his Manhattan hush-money trial.
When divided into partisan affiliation, 91 percent of Republicans favor Trump compared to 81 percent of Democrats favoring Biden. Independents, the largest voting bloc in the U.S., favor Trump (41 percent) more than Biden (33 percent).
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is viewed favorably by 39 percent of independents and 38 percent of Americans overall. Both percentages are respectively 13 points and 14 points lower than his prior markings in December’s Gallup survey. His current ratings dropped by 26 points among Democrats and by 7 points among Republicans.
Notably, Kennedy will not participate in Thursday night’s debate after missing CNN’s qualification deadline last week. He fell just short of the polling requirement and failed to get on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the threshold of 270 electoral votes.
Without Kennedy’s participation, Trump and Biden will face off on the debate stage for the first time since 2020. The debate will be moderated by CNN veteran anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.