Trump’s Crushing Lead

By Rich Lowry

Tuesday, September 05, 2023

 

There’s no sugar-coating the new national WSJ poll from over the weekend that has Trump crushing DeSantis 59–13, and basically no one else anywhere to be found.

 

The indictments, predictably, have helped Trump:

 

Asked about the indictments of Trump, more than 60% of Republican primary voters said each was politically motivated and without merit. Some 78% said Trump’s actions after the 2020 election were legitimate efforts to ensure an accurate vote, while 16% said Trump had illegally tried to block Congress from certifying an election he had lost. About half, or 48%, said the indictments made them more likely to vote for Trump in 2024, while 16% said they made them less likely to support him for a second term.

 

The WSJ also tested Trump and Biden, and has them tied 46–46. Now, it’s very early for general-election polling — the Democrats haven’t started doing their number on Trump, and we may get trials and potential guilty verdicts next year. But Biden is incredibly weak:

 

The negative views of Biden’s age and performance in office help explain why only 39% of voters hold a favorable view of the president. In a separate question, some 42% said they approve of how he is handling his job, well below the 57% who disapprove. . . .

 

Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again.

 

By an 11-point margin, more voters see Trump rather than Biden as having a record of accomplishments as president — some 40% said Biden has such a record, while 51% said so of Trump. By an eight-point margin, more voters said Trump has a vision for the future. And by 10 points, more described Trump as mentally up to the presidency. Some 46% said that is true of Trump, compared with 36% who said so of Biden.