Nobody seems excited about this year’s presidential election.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that while more Republicans would be content with Trump as their nominee than Democrats would be with Biden as their standard-bearer, relatively few Americans are enthusiastic about a potential rematch of the 2020 election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Voters’ apparent apathy coincides with the fact that neither Biden nor Trump will have many challenges in securing the nominations of their respective parties for the upcoming year. Democratic leaders have overwhelmingly endorsed Biden, while a small number of largely insignificant primary rivals have found it difficult to get traction.
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A month before Iowa’s first nominating contest, Trump’s hold on GOP primary supporters is unwavering, despite 91 indictments in four criminal cases, some of which are related to his aspirations to reverse his electoral defeat to Biden in 2020.
Randy Johnson, 64, of Monett, Missouri, said, “I find it sad for our country that those are our best choices.” That’s probably the nicest way to say it.
Republican Johnson expressed his yearning for a third viable presidential candidate, but the current political landscape renders it unfeasible. He concluded by saying, “We’re down to the lesser of two evils.”
From Windham, Maine, independent Andrew Collins, 35, stated: “This is probably the most uniquely horrible choice I’ve had in my life.”
If Biden is selected as the Democratic Party’s nominee in 2024, about half of Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied. Of the Democrats, about one-third would be unhappy, and roughly one in five would be “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.”
Regarding the Republican Party nomination, support for GOP front-runner Donald Trump is stronger. If Trump were the Republican nominee for 2024, two-thirds of Republicans would be happy with the choice. Approximately 25% would express dissatisfaction, while 9% would remain indifferent.
Regardless of political orientation, most American adults still lack enthusiasm for a Biden-Trump rematch.
A majority of American respondents (56%) expressed “very” or “somewhat” dissatisfaction with Biden as the Democratic presidential contender in 2024, while a comparable majority (58%) expressed dissatisfaction with Trump as the Republican nominee.
Approximately 28% of American adults, or nearly 3 out of 10, say they would be unhappy if either Trump or Biden were to receive the nomination for their respective parties. Independents (43%) are more likely to feel this way than Democrats (28%) or Republicans (20%).
Independent Deborah Brophy claims to have backed Biden in the 2020 presidential contest. However, the 67-year-old has since grown disenchanted with the president, claiming that Biden is too preoccupied with handling international crises rather than “what’s going on under his nose,” which includes homelessness, gun violence, and the state of the economy.
Brophy, of North Reading, Massachusetts, questioned, “What’s going on with Biden right now?” “In my opinion, he is not in good enough health to serve another four years in office. I believe that he is having trouble thinking since his mind is somewhat off course.”
Even still, she finds Trump’s demeanor offensive and remarks that he “seems a little racist,” despite her praise for his financial savvy.
Brophy continued, “So I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
According to the AP-NORC poll, having a candidate who can win is slightly more important to Democrats and Republicans alike than having a candidate whose beliefs mirror the majority of the party or even themselves.
Just roughly 30% of Democrats say they are “extremely” or “very” sure that a candidate who can win the general election in November will be nominated by the Democratic Party. 18% are either not at all confident or not very confident, while around half are at least moderately confident.
Three-quarters of Democrats say it’s “extremely” or “very” important that the party’s process for nominating a presidential candidate does produce a candidate who can win the general election, even though relatively few are highly certain they’ll receive a winning nominee out of the process.
One-third of Republicans are very sure that the way the Republican Party chooses a presidential candidate will lead to someone who can win the general election.
A little less than half, or 46%, are somewhat confident. Only 2% are not very or at all confident. That their process leads to a person who can win in 2024 is very important to seven out of ten Republicans.
“Twice, I voted for Trump.” If I have to, I’ll vote for him again. “I would never vote for Biden,” said Joe Hill, a Republican from West Point, Georgia, who is 70 years old. “But I would welcome someone new and quite frankly, I’m not confident he can win against Biden.”
Hill said he was worried that Trump might get too many people angry with each other.
“I want a Republican to be elected, so I’m in favor of any Republican that would be on the ballot,” Hill stated. “I would more so if it wasn’t him.”
A majority of people in the U.S. don’t like either candidate, according to the study. Only 42% say they like Biden and 36% say the same about Trump.
Within their party, most people like both Biden and Trump. About 7 out of 10 Republicans like Trump and about three-quarters of Democrats like Biden. But Republicans (46%) are more likely than Democrats (34%), to say that they have a very positive view of Trump.
44% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans say they only somewhat like the person who is running for president in 2024 for their party.
Josh Reed from Pittsburg, California, said he would rather vote for someone other than Trump in the Republican primary. He named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and North Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who dropped out of the race last month.
“It’s between those two,” Reed, 39, a registered Republican who says he has more liberal views, said if voters have to choose between Biden and Trump next fall. “A third party won’t change anything.” It is what it is sometimes. “Those two are your choices.”
Reed said it was clear that he would vote again next year. He did say, “I’m not excited for either of these guys,” though.