OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
An election analysis by NBC News over the weekend was not good news for President Joe Biden and his reelection campaign, which is largely relying on a hokey claim that his likely rival, Donald Trump, will ‘end democracy’ if he wins.
During a presentation on “Meet the Press,” NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki told anchor Kristen Welker that Biden is suffering “erosion” on a number of “critical fronts” in comparison to Trump.
“Kornacki used an interactive screen to discuss with host Kristen Welker NBC’s survey in April, which showed Trump performing better than Biden across several categories with a little more than half a year until the November presidential election,” The Daily Wire reported.
The outlet added:
On “Handling A Crisis,” Trump beat Biden 46%-42%; on “Strong Record As President,” Trump topped Biden 46%-39%; and on “Competent & Effective,” Trump prevailed over Biden 47%-36%. On “Dealing With Inflation & Cost of Living,” Trump led Biden 52%-30%; and on “Necessary Mental/Physical Health,” Trump bested Biden 45%-26%.
NBC POLL: WHICH CANDIDATE IS BETTER….?
— Handling a crisis: Trump +4
— Strong record as president: Trump +7
— Competent and effective: Trump +9
— Necessary mental and physical health: Trump +19
— Dealing with inflation and cost of living: Trump +22 pic.twitter.com/1qMMM4AUg4
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 21, 2024
Kornacki said these findings are “troubling” for the Biden campaign, as they are indicative of “the erosion of public confidence on a number of critical fronts.”
He emphasized that Biden previously held an advantage in competency and crisis management questions during the 2020 election, but now those numbers are showing more positive results for Trump.
“You’ve got to mention this one, too. ‘Necessary mental and physical health.’ We asked this four years ago, it was a wash. It’s now a clear liability for Joe Biden. So these are all troubling numbers for Biden, but it’s not to say there aren’t warning signs for Donald Trump in this poll either,” the analyst said.
Two areas where Biden outpolled Trump were abortion and the ability to bring the country together. However, Kornacki indicated that he thought the “headline here is you add those two numbers together, you’re not even close to 100. That means a lot of voters think neither candidate is better on that.”
Kornacki mentioned that the poll indicated Trump held a 46%-44% lead over Biden in another head-to-head matchup. However, he emphasized that the margin between the candidates has narrowed over the past few months. Kornacki noted a “slight improvement” in Biden’s job approval rating but pointed out that Biden’s job performance numbers still trail those of other recent presidents.
Kornacki said adding a third candidate to the mix, notably independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., put the incumbent ahead of the rest. “Joe Biden, 39%; Donald Trump, 37%. There’s Kennedy getting 13%. In other words, we’re seeing by a better than 2:1 margin that it’s Trump voters who are flipping over to Kennedy in this scenario, not Biden voters,” he said.
A Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this month found Trump leading Biden in six of seven critical swing states.
Citing the results, a CNN segment pointed out that Biden is behind Trump in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia—while Biden led by three points in Wisconsin.
What’s more, Trump is leading Biden on issues that are also the biggest concerns for voters this cycle.
“Look at the why: what is going on? Alright, trusted more, again, this is across all of these key seven swing states,” CNN political analyst Harry Enten said.
“Look, Donald Trump is trusted more than Joe Biden in basically all the important issues — the economy, inflation, 20-point lead, immigration, border, 20-point lead, the Israel-Hamas war, 14-point lead, the Russia-Ukraine war, nine-point lead, protecting democracy, well within the margin of error, which I think is something the that should worry that Biden camp, given that has been harping and Democrats been harping on this,” Enten continued. “Just a one-point advantage.”
“On abortion, Democrats and Joe Biden have a 12-point advantage. They would love this campaign to be about abortion, but at this particular point, it‘s about this. And it‘s about this with perhaps a little bit of this,” Enten said, pointing out the main concerns of voters, “and all these issues favor Donald Trump.”