Biden Has Double-Digit Lead Over Trump, Public Prefers A Democratic-Run Congress, Poll Finds

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:58 am

Although the nomination contests to determine who Democrats will choose to be their presidential nominee have not yet completed, both candidates, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, appear to be the favorites in head-to-head polling against incumbent President Donald Trump.

Data from a new CNN/SSRS poll showcases that, among a national electorate, Biden is ahead of Trump by 10 points. Fifty-three percent of respondents in the poll said they’d back Biden, while only 43 percent said they wanted Trump to serve a second term in office.

With Sanders taking on Trump, the poll shows the Vermont senator leading Trump 52 percent to 45 percent, respectively.

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The poll found that most Democratic-leaning voters were planning to vote for or hoped that Biden would win the nomination, with 52 percent saying as much while 36 percent nationally said they preferred Sanders would win.

Trump’s predicted losses likely stem from the fact that he isn’t a well-liked president. Only 43 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion about him, while 54 percent say they view him disfavorably, the poll found.

When it comes to what kind of Congress the next president (Democratic or Republican) will be working with, the poll demonstrated that respondents wanted Democrats to continue to run the show. Only 46 percent said they wanted a Republican Congress, while 51 percent said they hoped Democrats took control again.

Of course, as we saw in 2016, a win in the popular vote doesn’t necessarily translate to a win in the Electoral College — yet, on that front, other polls show Trump is in trouble.

A separate poll from Republican-leaning Optimus found that Trump is presently losing to both Biden and Sanders in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Those three states helped propel him to victory four years ago, and without them in his corner again, it’s hard to see a path Trump can take to re-election.

Chris Walker

Chris Walker is a freelance journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin, who focuses on news, politics, and analysis of world events. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, since 2005 Chris has reported on workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, opined on four separate presidential elections and written on a number of other political subjects for a variety of national online publications.