More than 80 percent of Democrats said they would likely vote for President Biden in 2024 despite a minority saying the want him to run for reelection, according to an AP-NORC poll released Friday, improvements on earlier figures.
The poll found that just 26 percent of American respondents overall and 47 percent of Democrat respondents want Biden to run for reelection, with many citing his age a concern.
Biden is expected to announce his 2024 campaign officially at an event as early as next week, and it comes as the president’s approval rating slips below 40 percent this month in a different poll, down from 42 percent last month.
Despite sliding approval, the reelection numbers are improvements from January, when 38 percent of Democrats said they would want Biden to run.
Biden’s support is weakest among younger Democrats, with just 25 percent of those under 45 saying they would “definitely” back the president compared to 56 percent of older Democrats. However, 51 percent of young Democrats surveyed said they would “probably” vote for Biden, according to the poll.
The unfavorable figures still put Biden in a better position than GOP frontrunner former President Trump. The same poll found that 65 percent of American respondents would not vote for Trump in 2024, including 53 percent saying they definitely would not.
The numbers are slightly better for Biden, with 56 percent of Americans surveyed saying they would not vote for him and 41 percent saying they would definitely not.
Biden has challenged concerns about his age and urged voters to compare him to the alternative candidate, likely Trump, when determining their support.
“It’s legitimate for people to raise issues about my age,” he said in an ABC News interview in February. “It’s totally legitimate to do that. And the only thing I can say is, ‘Watch me.’”
The poll of 1,230 adults was conducted April 13-17 and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.