WASHINGTON: Exactly one year out from the US presidential election, incumbent Joe Biden finds himself trailing likely challenger Donald Trump by wide margins in several key states, according to a new poll out on Sunday.
In five crucial states that helped Biden defeat Trump in the 2020 election, the president is polling behind by up to 10 percentage points, according to the survey from the New York Times and Sienna College.
More than 70 percent of respondents to the poll, which was taken between October 22 and November 3, said 80-year-old Biden is too old to be president, while only 19 percent said 77-year-old Trump is too old.
Respondents also said they preferred Trump on the economy, immigration, and the Israel-Hamas war. Voters in Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania said they would vote for Trump next year over Biden by between four and 10 percentage points, while voters in Wisconsin said they preferred Biden by two points.
The poll recorded Biden as still more trustworthy among voters on abortion, and respondents said that on the issue of democracy they preferred the president over Trump -- who is facing four criminal trials, including over accusations he tried to overturn the 2020 election.
A majority of women said they preferred Trump, while Biden´s advantage among voters under 30 has slipped to only one percentage point despite their strong support for the Democrat in 2020, according to the poll.
The Biden campaign dismissed concerns over his re-election challenges, saying in a statement Sunday that “predictions more than a year out tend to look a little different a year later.”
“President Biden´s campaign is hard at work reaching and mobilizing our diverse, winning coalition of voters one year out on the choice between our winning, popular agenda and MAGA Republicans´ unpopular extremism,” campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz added.
