Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden by four points in a general election head-to-head matchup, according to the latest Messenger/Harris poll published Thursday.
Trump leads Biden 46%-42% with 12% undecided, according to the survey. Trump's lead is down from seven points from the last poll conducted in early December. Trump led then 47%-40%.
Independents drive Trump's advantage over Biden, with 46% saying they would vote for Trump. Biden gets 35% support from independents with 20% undecided.
Trump's lead drops to three points with other candidates added to the mix:
- Trump 40%
- Biden 37%
- Robert Kennedy Jr. 11%
- Cornel West 2%
- Jill Stein 1%
Trump leads Biden 46%-44.4% in the latest RealClear Politics polling average.
Biden's approval rating sits at 42% in the poll. Further, those who "strongly disapprove" of Biden outpace those who "strongly approve" 41%-19%.
Turning to the GOP primary, 39% of those surveyed said they would vote for Trump, with 18% saying Nikki Haley. However, 34% said they were either unsure or would vote for "someone else."
If Biden decided to drop out of the race, as has been speculated in some quarters, 25% of those surveyed said they would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, which puts her in third place behind "someone else" (34%) and "unsure" (26%).
The poll surveyed 1,045 registered voters from Jan. 16-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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