Biden-Trump race is tight amid debate fallout: Poll

President Biden and former President Trump are in a tight race amid fallout from last week’s presidential debate, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov.

The poll, conducted between June 30 and July 2, found that Trump garnered 42 percent support among registered voters in response to a question about whom they “plan to vote for” this fall, ahead of President Biden, who garnered 40 percent. Also included in the responses to the same question in the poll were people who said they “plan to vote for” other presidential candidates, including independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who garnered 5 percent support.

Biden has faced questions about whether he should stay in the presidential race in the wake of a negatively received performance in a debate against Trump. Some Democrats are calling on the president to step out of the race or be replaced at the top of the Democratic ticket. 

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) made himself the first House Democrat on Tuesday to publicly push Biden to take himself out of the 2024 race after the president’s bad debate performance.

“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not,” Doggett said in a statement. “Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”

Other findings in The Economist/YouGov poll included a tie between a Democratic candidate and a Republican candidate when registered voters were asked about “who” they “would vote for in” their districts in congressional “elections” occurring that day, both garnering 44 percent.

Biden’s campaign noted tight polling versus Trump on Wednesday in an all-staff memo, coming amid the struggles it has faced in the wake of last week’s debate. The memo said that the campaign is prepared for “lots of chatter and analysis” surrounding new polls, but its “internal battleground toplines from last night show a steady race.”

According to an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Trump is ahead of Biden at 44.2 percent support versus the president’s 43.3 percent.

The Economist/YouGov poll featured 1,392 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.