Correspondent for NBC, Steve Kornacki, sounded the alarm on a new NBC poll that showed former President Donald Trump beating President Joe Biden in a hypothetical match-up for the first time in the history of the NBC poll.
Trump came out in front of Biden in another general election match-up poll with 46% and 44% supporting the president. Kornacki pointed to another poll’s results and said the president has long had an advantage over Trump in “likability,” however, according to NBC’s latest results, is now in a tie.
“The gap is gone. Thirty-six percent positive on both and actually Biden, one point more negative than Trump. That’s been a significant advantage for Biden; our poll says that advantage, at least for now, may be gone,” said Kornacki.
Kornacki also emphasized Biden’s approval rating in the NBC poll, which he said is the lowest the president has ever measured in polling. According to the survey, only 40% of registered voters approve of Biden’s job.
Among independents, only 30% of registered voters approved Biden’s job performance.
“If you take a look here by party, I think it’s significant for two reasons: one, Independents, obviously, more than two to one disapprove. You don’t want to be there as an incumbent president. But I think equally significant, no surprise, 7% of Republicans approve of Joe Biden’s job performance, but three times as many Democrats, 21%, that’s more than one in five, say they disapprove. You need much more unified support in your own party if you’re going to have a successful reelection campaign,” said Kornacki.
He also revealed younger voters, 18-24, were leaning toward the former president. The poll found 46% of voters ages 18-24 preferred Trump, while 42% favored Biden.
“The youngest voters in the 2020 election were Biden +28,” noted Kornacki. “This could be a massive sea change.”
Several recent polls showed Biden trailing Trump
Numerous recent polls showed the president trailing former President Trump in general election face-offs and in crucial battleground states.
Voters have also soured on the president’s handling of foreign policy, found the poll. Only 33% approve of President Biden’s foreign policy job performance.
“These numbers surprised our own pollsters, Steve,” said NBC’s Kristen Welker, explaining the results. “With one saying he cannot remember a time when a foreign entanglement that didn’t involve U.S. troops had the capacity to transform the electorate. That’s not the case in this poll.”
The NBC poll was the latest to show bad news for the president, after two November polls that showed President Biden trailing Trump.
An NBC/Siena College poll released earlier in the month found Biden trailed Trump in several crucial battleground states.
