(Reuters) – Democratic President Joe Biden would face a closely competitive 2024 election contest with leading potential Republican challengers former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found.
Following are details from the poll on possible head-to-head match-ups in the November 2024 presidential election.
TRUMP-BIDEN
Trump, who has declared his candidacy, and Biden, who has not formally done so, each received the largest shares of support from respondents in their parties, making a replay of their 2020 clash a plausible scenario. Trump had the support of 42% of registered voters and Biden had 39% in a potential head-to-head contest. That is a statistical tie as it is within the poll’s 4 percentage-point credibility interval, a measure of precision.
BIDEN-DESANTIS
DeSantis is widely expected to run for president but has not yet announced he will do so. Still, his rising national profile, boosted by stands on issues of race and gender, make him potentially tough competition for Trump in the Republican primaries. DeSantis also looked competitive with Biden in the poll, holding 41% support to the president’s 38%, also a statistical tie.
BIDEN-HALEY
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley launched a presidential bid on Tuesday, making her the first high-profile Republican to challenge Trump directly for the party’s nomination. She trailed Biden in a potential one-on-one match-up, with Biden leading 43%-31% among registered voters.
BIDEN-TRUMP-CHENEY
Former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney is seen as a potential spoiler for Trump in next year’s contest. Cheney, one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics, vowed in August to try to keep Trump from returning to the White House and raised the possibility she could run for president following her loss to a Trump-backed opponent in a Republican primary. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, however, suggests Cheney could siphon votes from Biden should the three appear together on the ballot. In that scenario, 39% of respondents picked Trump, 32% picked Biden and 15% picked Cheney, giving Trump an advantage over Biden relative to their two-person hypothetical match-up.
(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
