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Half of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents believe the Democratic party has a better chance of winning the presidency in 2024 with President Joe Biden as the party nominee, a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll finds.
That's up from just four months ago, when the same poll found that only 38% of Democrats believed Biden gave the party the best chance of keeping the White House, versus 54% who said the party had a better chance with another nominee.
Now, 50% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents believe Biden is their party’s best shot at the White House, compared with 45% who say the party would be better served with a different nominee in 2024; 5% are unsure.
On the other side of the aisle, just 42% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents believe that Republicans would have a better chance of winning the presidency with former President Donald Trump as the party’s nominee in 2024.
Fifty-four percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe the GOP would have a better shot at taking back the White House with a nominee other than Trump.
But Republican confidence in Trump also has risen since this question was asked in November.
Back then, just 35% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believed the party would have a better chance of taking back the White House with Trump at the helm.
Trump is one of a handful of Republicans to announce a presidential bid so far, joining former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
But that field could grow — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans could announce a campaign for president this year. The poll found that DeSantis’ favorability rating among Republicans is about as high as Trump’s.
Sixty-six percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a favorable view of DeSantis, while 68% say the same about Trump.
President Biden hasn’t officially announced his re-election campaign, but he is widely expect to run again.
His favorability rating among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents was at 83%, higher than other Democrats polled.
Those other Democrats included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who had a 63% favorability rating; Vice President Kamala Harris, who also had a 63% favorability rating; and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who had a 42% favorability rating among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, though 49% of that group was unsure or not familiar with Whitmer.
The NPR/PBS/Marist poll was conducted from Feb. 13-16 and surveyed 1,352 adults, 1,210 of which were registered voters. Among registered voters, the margin of error is ±3.5%.