Poll: Donald Trump Bests Joe Biden by 8 Among Independents

Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election race and holds an eight-point advantage among independents, according to a Marquette University poll. 

The poll, published Thursday, finds Trump leads Biden 42 percent to 40 percent among registered voters while another 15 percent would back someone else and 2 percent would not vote.

When those who prefer another candidate and those who back someone else were pressed to choose whether they lean toward Trump or Biden, Trump’s overall support climbed to 52 percent while Biden’s went to 48 percent. 

With leaners, Trump bests Biden 54 percent to 46 percent among independents. 

In the Republican presidential primary, Trump towers over the field with 54 percent of support. Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are Trump’s nearest competitors and tie at twelve percent, followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at four percent. From there, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who has suspended his candidacy, takes two percent, and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) garners one percent. Another 16 percent are undecided. 

Marquette University also tested Haley and DeSantis in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with Trump in the Republican primary, finding they both lose handily. In a Trump versus DeSantis bout, the 45th president runs away with 64 percent of support to DeSantis’s 36 percent. 

Trump’s lead widens in a race with Haley, in which he pulls 69 percent of the response to the former United Nations ambassador’s 31 percent.

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However, Haley and DeSantis are competitive to varying degrees with Biden if either were to emerge as the GOP nominee. Biden leads DeSantis at 42 percent to 38 percent in a hypothetical race, but when leaners are included, the governor takes a 51 percent to 49 percent lead. 

Haley leads Biden by 55 percent to 45 percent when leaners are included but still leads 41 percent to 38 percent without leaners. 

Biden’s approval rating in this poll is 20 points underwater, with 40 percent giving his performance positive marks and 60 percent giving negative feedback. 

Marquette University sampled 785 registered voters between November 2 and 7 before the third Republican presidential debate in Miami on November 8. The top primary portion of the poll included 352 respondents. The margin of error was not specified.