Poll finds Trump beats Biden by 7 points, DeSantis ties president in matchup

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Former President Trump leads President Biden by a 7-point margin in a new survey shared Friday with The Hill from the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll.

Separately, the poll found Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) deadlocked in a tie when those surveyed were asked who they would prefer in a head-to-head matchup.

The results put together point to Trump’s apparent strength in the GOP primary as DeSantis is set to enter the race, as early as next week. Trump leads DeSantis in some polls of GOP voters by double digits.

DeSantis has made the case that he is the stronger candidate in the general election to face Biden, but the new poll raises questions about whether that is the case.

The survey found that 47 percent of respondents said they would vote for Trump if the 2024 election were held today and Trump and Biden were the party’s nominees. Forty percent supported Biden, while 13 percent said they didn’t know or weren’t sure.

Forty-two percent of respondents chose Biden and an equal percentage chose DeSantis in that matchup. Sixteen percent said they didn’t know or weren’t sure.

In another potential sign of concern for Democrats, Biden barely edged out former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in a matchup, receiving 40 percent support to Haley’s 38 percent.

“DeSantis is campaigning in a more difficult environment than a few months ago, but most voters believe he can still mount a serious challenge,” said Mark Penn, the co- director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll.

“Like [Trump] vs. Alan Bragg or CNN is a [favorable] match with him. Let’s see how the primary develops [Republican] opponents want [DeSantis] or Scott,” he added.

The poll comes as Trump is widely seen as the Republican front-runner to take on Biden next year. DeSantis, who has yet to officially announce a White House bid but is expected to soon, is seen as Trump’s main rival and is generally polling in second place.

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The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey was conducted May 17-18 and surveyed 2,004 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.

This story was updated at 5:23 pm

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