Poll: Donald Trump Takes Double-Digit Lead over Joe Biden Among Independents

By HANNAH BLEAU KNUDSEN

President Donald Trump is taking a double-digit lead over President Joe Biden among independents, the latest survey from the Economist/YouGov found.

• The survey — taken March 10-12, 2024, among 1,559 U.S. adult citizens — asked respondents who they would support in a presidential matchup between Trump and Biden — a 2020 repeat.

  Among all respondents as well as registered voters, Trump leads Biden by two points — 44 percent to Biden’s 42 percent support. Earlier in March, the two were tied at 44 percent each. Trump predictably has support from a majority of Republicans, 89 percent, while Biden has support from a majority of Democrats, also 89 percent. That naturally puts all eyes on independents, who are backing Trump over the incumbent in the recent survey.

  Trump garners support from 40 percent of independents, and Biden comes in ten points behind with 30 percent support. Another 13 percent support “other,” five percent are unsure, and 11 percent say they will not vote.

  Of all the respondents — Democrats, Republicans, and independents included — who choose neither Biden nor Trump, 34 percent say their choice would be independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — up from 26 percent — while three percent say Jill Stein and one percent say Cornel West. Nearly half, 49 percent, are unsure, and 14 percent support someone else.

  The results of this survey follow a devastating poll for Biden from CNN released in February, which found most independents, 66 percent, disapproving of Biden’s job performance. Further, another 70 percent of independents said Biden does not deserve reelection — devastating figures in an election year as his approval drops post State of the Union.