By Michael GryboskiMainline Church Editor Friday, February 02, 2024

President Joe Biden leads former president and likely challenger Donald Trump in a new Quinnipiac University poll, while the Democratic incumbent trails Republican candidate Nikki Haley.

In findings announced On Wednesday, Quinnipiac University researchers reported that Biden leads Trump 50% to 44% in a hypothetical election between the two opponents of the 2020 election.

The survey was based on responses from more than 1,650 American adults who were questioned between January 25 and 29. The data has a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. Of those surveyed, 696 identified as Republican or Republican-leaning, while 693 identified as Democratic or Democratic-leaning.

Researchers noted that the difference between Trump and Biden was an increase from numbers they reported in December, when Biden had 47% support to Trump's 46%, which the pollsters labeled “too close to call.”

If put one on one against Haley, Biden loses against the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations, where Haley secures 47% support while the current president received 42%.

However, when the pollsters included multiple third-party options, Haley lost to Biden, with the incumbent winning 36%, Haley receiving 29%, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. securing 21%, independent candidate Cornel West receiving 3% and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein bringing 2%.

“In a head-to-head matchup against Biden, Haley is outperforming Trump, thanks to independents. Add third-party candidates to the mix, and her numbers slip in part because of her weakness among Republicans,” states Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. .

While the Quinnipiac results show Biden clearly beating Trump, other polls indicated the Republican front-runner would defeat the man who defeated him in the 2020 election.

For example, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released last month found that Trump had a slight lead over Biden: 39% supported the former president, 37% supported Biden and 17% said they would vote third party.

The poll also found that Trump leads Biden among voters younger than 35 (37% to 33%) and leads with Hispanic voters (39% to 34%), while 20% of black and Hispanic voters said they would vote third party .

“Although Trump did not grow support among black voters, he closed the deficit because a third of voters come from the support of Biden among blacks,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, quoted by USA Today.

“A young voter or a person of color voting 'third party' is a vote away from President Biden, and a vote away from President Biden is a vote for Donald Trump.”

In recent weeks, Trump has won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, prompting multiple Republican opponents to end their campaigns and endorse the former president.

Following her defeat in New Hampshire, Haley told supporters that the GOP presidential nomination race was “far from over” and that there were “dozens of states left to go.”

“With Donald Trump, you have one bout of chaos after another. This court case, that controversy, this tweet, that senior moment. You can't fix Joe Biden's chaos with Republican chaos,” she said.

“Most Americans do not want a rematch between Biden and Trump. The first party to withdraw its 80-year-old candidate will win this election.”