Former House Republican says Biden, Trump polls should ‘send off alarm bells’ to GOP

Former GOP Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) said that the polls showing a hypothetical match-up between President Biden and former President Trump should “send off alarm bells” to the Republican Party.

Katko said on ABC’s “This Week” that despite “how bad” Biden’s numbers are, Trump is still not beating him.

“Trump is not beating him. Trump’s even with him,” he said on the panel. “And so that should send off alarm bells in my opinion in the Republican Party. And if you look at it, you have a group of people that they put Biden against, and the only one that’s got a significant lead would be Nikki Haley.”

“And that just tells you something. Nikki Haley’s almost three decades younger than Biden. And that’s something that you want to think about. And I think the American people are looking at that,” he added.

A CNN poll released last week found that Haley is the only GOP contender who has an edge over Biden. Haley led Biden with 49 percent support to his 43 percent, while every other major Republican candidate remains neck and neck with him.

Katko’s comments come as Democratic voters also raise concerns about Biden’s age. The CNN poll found that more than half of Democrats are worried about the age of Biden, who is 80.

Katko noted that even though Biden’s accomplishments are “well known,” it’s not reflected in the poll numbers.

“So those numbers, if you look at the polling over the last several months, are getting worse,” Katko said. “They’re not getting better. So despite all his so-called achievements, he’s in real trouble. And again, you go back to how is it the Republican Party doesn’t look at this poll and realize there’s a real opportunity if it’s not Trump? And that’s something I think they’ve got to wrestle with over the next few months.”