NBC News Poll Shows Tighter Biden-Trump Race Than ABC/WaPo Poll, But Has Similar Uptick for Trump and Disastrous Downward Trend for Biden

NBC news also released a poll on the presidential race on Sunday following the bombshell ABC News/Washington Post poll that has President Trump leading Joe Biden by ten points, 52 to 42 percent. The NBC News poll of 1000 registered voters (margin of error 3.1 percent) has the race tied at 46-46, but closely matches the uptick for support for Trump and the disastrous downward trend for Biden seen in the ABC/WaPo poll. Biden led Trump 49 to 45 in the June NBC poll. With third party candidates in the mix, Trump leads Biden 39 to 36 percent with generic Libertarian and No Labels candidates garnering five percent each and the Green Party getting four percent.

Voters had higher concerns about Biden’s fitness for office than Trump with 74 percent having major/moderate concern about Biden having the mental and physical health for a second term while only 47 percent expressed similar concerns about Trump. 62 percent are concerned about Trump’s court cases while 60 percent are concerned about Biden’s involvement with son Hunter in “alleged financial wrongdoing or corruption.”

NBC’s Steve Kornacki commenting to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker about the poll, “Nothing but good news” for Trump:

NBC NEWS POLL: “Nothing but good news” for fmr. President Trump, whose lead has expanded in the GOP presidential contest to 43 points over his nearest rival.@stevekornacki: Trump’s lead among GOP primary candidates “has only gotten more dominant.” pic.twitter.com/ZXHBMZYHav

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 24, 2023

Kornacki also spoke about Biden’s disapproval hitting an all time high for his time in office in the NBC poll with 56 percent disapproving and 41 percent approving of his job performance.

NEW: Almost 60% of Democratic primary voters say they want options other than President Biden in 2024 in the latest NBC News national poll.@SteveKornacki: “This is not a normal number for an incumbent. … That’s a very high number.” pic.twitter.com/F0IoCXHvqJ

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 24, 2023

The generic Congressional ballot has a statistical tie with Dems over GOP by 1 point, 46 to 45 percent.

One point of interest in the NBC poll is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) topping Biden 46 to 41 in a head to head match-up, however nearly thirty percent said they are not familiar with Haley. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is down by one to Biden, 46 to 45 percent, a statistical tie.

Trump’s lead over the GOP primary field increased from the June poll, going from 51 percent to 59 percent support. DeSantis dropped from 22 to 16 percent while Haley edged up from 4 to 7 seven percent in a subset of 321 GOP primary voters in the NBC poll.

Excerpts from the NBC News report on the poll showing continuing dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the economy and foreign affairs and lagging enthusiasm by Democrat voters:

…What’s more, the NBC News poll finds 37% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, and 41% approve of his handling of foreign policy.

Only 28% of all voters say they’re satisfied with the state of the economy (down from 48% who said this at the beginning of Biden’s presidency in April 2021), though 55% say they’re satisfied with their own financial situation. Still, that 55% figure is tied for a record low on this poll question dating back to 1994.

And on top of all of those numbers, nearly 6 in 10 Democratic primary voters — 59% — say they want a Democratic candidate to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024, even though a major intraparty challenger hasn’t emerged.

…And 67% of all voters say they have high interest in the 2024 elections — registering either a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale of interest — which is lower than this same point in time before the 2020 election (when 72% had high interest), but higher than this point in time in the 2016 cycle (64%). Voter turnout was significantly higher in 2020 than in 2016.

A greater share of Republican voters (75%) than Democratic voters (68%) have high interest in the upcoming election, while key parts of the Democratic base — younger voters, Black voters and Latino voters — have lower interest than at this same point in past election cycles.

The two polls show the electorate moving away from Biden and the Democrats and toward Trump and Republicans. With just over a year to go before early voting starts for the November 2024 elections, a lot can happen. But Biden shows no signs of changing any of his extremist policies to win the middle, while Trump is campaigning on finding common ground on issues including abortion and war and peace while touting his strong record on the economy, energy and border security.

This week’s Republican debate will help determine if the Nikki Haley boomlet is real and if the Ron DeSantis campaign has any life left after a disastrous summer. Trump is skipping the debate again, opting to give a speech to striking UAW workers in Michigan on Wednesday.

On the Democrat side Robert F. Kennedy Jr is stuck in the low teens with Marianne Williamson mired in single digits with no debates with Joe Biden allowed by the DNC.

Complete NBC News poll results at this link.