The latest CNN poll delivered a devastating blow to President Joe Biden’s campaign team, showing him steadily losing ground to former President Donald Trump over the past eight months.
The Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent Byron York shared screenshots of several key questions and responses, noting that Biden appeared to be fighting an uphill battle whether or not independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was taken into consideration.
“New CNN national poll: Trump over Biden 49-43 in 2-way race, 42-33 in 5-way race. 55% say Trump’s presidency was a success, while 44% say it was a failure. 61% say Biden’s presidency has been a failure, 39% a success,” York captioned his post on X.
New CNN national poll: Trump over Biden 49-43 in 2-way race, 42-33 in 5-way race. 55% say Trump's presidency was a success, while 44% say it was a failure. 61% say Biden's presidency has been a failure, 39% a success. https://t.co/Vr8mVZ1xEY pic.twitter.com/32R8aOXnrJ
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 28, 2024
The screenshots included one showing Trump gaining on Biden since last August, when the same poll’s results only favored Trump by one point in a two-man race — with 47% to Biden’s 46%. The same poll, taken again in late October and a third time in January, showed Trump gaining two points (49%) and Biden losing two (45%). In the latest poll, released Sunday, Trump held steady at 49% and Biden dropped another two points to 43%.
According to the poll, Trump keeps his lead (42%) over Biden (33%) even if independent candidates RFK Jr. (16%) and Cornel West (4%) — and Green Party candidate Jill Stein (3%) are accounted for as well.
Another devastating blow came when respondents were asked whether Trump’s presidency had been a success (55%) or a failure (44%). Those numbers have more than reversed since the same question was asked in mid-January of 2021, when 55% said Trump’s presidency had been a failure and just 41% said it was a success.
Biden’s score on the same question was equally disappointing: just 39% said his presidency has been a success — down from 41% in January of 2022 — and 61% called it a failure (up from 57%).
The president also lost ground with regard to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with just 28% of respondents saying that they approved of how he has handled it (down from 34% in late January) and 71% (up from 65%) disapproving.
The poll took data from just over 1200 respondents over the age of 18, who answered questions from April 18-23, 2024. The margin of error is +/- 3.4, with a confidence level of 95%.