President Joe Biden is largely viewed as a “weak” leader, whereas Americans view former President Donald Trump as a “strong” leader, a survey from the Economist/YouGov found.
The survey examined how respondents view the leadership abilities of both Biden and Trump. When asked if Biden is a strong or weak leader, 60 percent of respondents described him as at least somewhat weak. Of those, 42 percent said he is “very” weak. Those figures are even higher among registered voters, as 61 percent describe him as somewhat weak, and of those, 44 percent describe him as “very” weak.
Further, one-quarter of Democrats, as well as 91 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents describe him as at least somewhat weak.
In contrast, most respondents, 57 percent, describe Trump as at least somewhat strong and of those, 34 percent said he is “very” strong. The figure is higher among registered voters, as 58 percent said he is at least somewhat strong, and of those, 38 percent said he is “very” strong.
Predictably, the overwhelming majority of Republicans, 93 percent, view Trump as at least somewhat strong, but 27 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents share that sentiment.
The survey was taken February 25-27, 2024, among 1,688 U.S. adult citizens. It comes as Biden faces increased pressure to address the border crisis and Trump makes it a top campaign priority — something conservatives have urged him to embrace.
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Meanwhile, the intelligence community is reportedly “on edge” over the prospect of Trump returning to the White House, as Breitbart News reported:
Politico — the outlet that published a debunked article implying the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation — interviewed 18 former officials and analysts who worked in the sprawling bureaucracy as either appointees or career officials, with the majority wanting to snipe at Trump anonymously, allegedly to “avoid provoking backlash.”
The piece cites Trump critic Fiona Hill — a Russia analyst and former intelligence official who served under George Bush and Barack Obama and went from the liberal think tank Brookings Institution to join the Trump National Security Council, where a number of holdovers from the Obama administration served.
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MSNBC, CNN