Poll finds little enthusiasm for Biden-Trump rematch

Few voters are enthusiastic about the potential for a rematch next year between President Biden and former President Trump, according to a new poll. 

The Monmouth University survey released Monday found that 37 percent of registered voters are enthusiastic about Trump being the Republican nominee again, while 32 percent said they are enthusiastic about Biden being the Democratic one. More than half of respondents said they are not at all enthusiastic about Trump or Biden being their parties’ nominees. 

The only groups who were enthusiastic about Trump and Biden were members of the candidate’s respective party. But Republicans had at least somewhat of an enthusiasm advantage over Democrats, with 78 percent of Republicans enthusiastic about Trump, compared to 68 percent of Democrats enthusiastic about Biden. 

The gap between Republicans and Democrats for those who said they were very enthusiastic about Trump and Biden, respectively, being their party’s nominee was even wider. Almost half of Republicans said they were very enthusiastic about Trump, but only 29 percent of Democrats said the same about Biden.

Pollsters also found voters were much more likely to see Biden as too old to be reelected than Trump, even though Biden at 80 is only three years older than Trump. 

“These two men were born only three and a half years apart, but public perceptions of their age are wildly different,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “This is certainly one of the reasons, but probably not the only reason, why there is little voter enthusiasm for seeing a rematch of 2020 except among partisan loyalists.” 

Pollsters found three-quarters of respondents said Biden is too old to be effective in a second term, but only half said the same about Trump. 

The lack of enthusiasm for Trump and Biden was similar for independents — 35 percent said they were excited about Trump, and 19 percent said they were for Biden. 

Pollsters also found just more than 40 percent said they would definitely or probably vote for Trump and Biden, and more than 55 percent said they would definitely or probably not vote for them. 

The poll was conducted among 737 registered voters from Sept. 19-24. The margin of error was 4.5 percentage points.