Former President Donald Trump holds a 6-point lead over President Joe Biden in the 2024 race for the White House, according to The Wall Street Journal's latest poll.
In a survey that began two days after the candidates' debate last week, 80% say the 81-year-old Biden is too old to run for a second term, the Journal's poll results show.
Many Democrats, party donors, and mainstream media pundits have called on Biden to step aside as the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee following a disastrous Thursday night debate performance in which the president appeared lost and unintelligible at times.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, holds a 48%-42% advantage over Biden in a two-person matchup – a much wider margin than the 2-point lead in February and the largest lead in Journal surveys dating to late 2021.
The former president holds a similar 6-point lead (42%-36%) over Biden when independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other third-party candidates are added into the mix.
A third of voters, including 31% of independents, say the debate made them more likely to vote for Trump, according to the Journal survey.
Those saying Biden is too old rose 7 points from the Journal's survey in February.
Among Democrats, 76% of Democrats say the president is too old to run this year and two-thirds say they would replace him on the ballot.
Republicans say differently about the 78-year-old former president. Just 36% of GOP voters say Trump is too old to run for the presidency, and one-third would replace him with another candidate.
The Journal survey results show only 34% of respondents say they view Biden favorably and 63% say they view him unfavorably. Less than 40% say they approve of his handling of inflation, immigration, the economy, or his office overall.
Other post-debate poll results also show the debate effort hurt Biden.
A New York Times and Siena College survey found Trump's lead over Biden has increased by 3 percentage points following the debate.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 1 in 3 Democrats say Biden should end his reelection bid.
A CNN poll found 75% of U.S. voters say the Democratic Party will have a better chance of holding the White House if it replaces Biden as its nominee.
The Journal survey was conducted June 29-July 2 among 1,500 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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