President Donald Trump’s favorite polling company released a new poll on Friday showing that the leading Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, would comfortably beat him Trump a head-to-head matchup.
The Rasmussen Reports survey measured 48 percent support among likely voters for Biden, who is currently running for the Democratic nomination, ahead of Trump’s 44 percent support.
“Joe Biden may be finding the going a little rougher in his own party, but he’s still the most successful Democrat in a hypothetical 2020 matchup with President Trump,” the report’s authors wrote.
The trendlines for a hypothetical Biden-Trump showdown have remained relatively stable. In March, Rasmussen polled Biden at 49 percent and Trump at 44 percent, nearly identical to Friday’s poll despite the fact that Biden has faced growing competition from other Democratic hopefuls whose profiles were raised after the first debates. The career politician has also been repeatedly taken to task for past controversial comments and legislation that cast some doubt on his liberal bona fides.
Trump has tweeted about or retweeted a Rasmussen polling result at least 11 times in 2018, according to the Trump Twitter Archive. He often cites the company’s relatively favorable job approval numbers, which rank higher than most other comparable national surveys.
“Thank you to Rasmussen for the honest polling,” he wrote in April 2018. “Just hit 50%, which is higher than Cheatin’ Obama at the same time in his Administration.”
Thank you to Rasmussen for the honest polling. Just hit 50%, which is higher than Cheatinâ Obama at the same time in his Administration.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018
A CNN analysis of pre-midterm polls found that Rasmussen’s final generic ballot survey was the least accurate of 32 polls conducted ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
Friday’s poll from Rasmussen found that “Biden still leads Trump among women, those under 40 and minority voters.”
51 percent of likely voters view Biden favorably, compared with a 45-percent unfavorable rating. According to Rasmussen, this represents “a slightly more unfavorable view of the former vice president than [voters had] three months ago.”
He still remains the lead of the 2020 Democratic contenders, and Rasmussen places him ahead of Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, who are all running evenly. Within the Democratic Party, 77 percent of voters still view Biden favorably.
Rasmussen has generally bestowed higher approval ratings on the president than other surveys, which Trump has frequently derided. Yet their most recent job approval poll, from Wednesday, found the president underwater by one point among likely U.S. voters.
Between voters who strongly approve and strongly disapprove, Trump was underwater by six points.
The margin of error for Friday’s poll was +/- 1.5 points.
JIM WATSON/Getty
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