Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in two critical battleground states, Michigan and Georgia, according to new CNN polls conducted by SSRS, with younger voters breaking for Trump in both states.
In Georgia, a state Biden carried by a narrow margin in 2020, registered voters said they prefer Trump (49%) over Biden (44%) for the presidency in a two-way hypothetical matchup, according to the CNN polls.
In Michigan, which Biden won by a wider margin, Trump has 50% support to Biden’s 40%, with 10% saying they wouldn’t support either candidate.
Trump’s margin over Biden in a hypothetical matchup is significantly boosted by support from voters who say they did not cast a ballot in 2020, with these voters breaking in Trump’s favor by 26 points in Georgia and 40 points in Michigan.
Those who report having voted in 2020 say they broke for Biden over Trump in that election, but as of now, they tilt in Trump’s favor for 2024 in both states, with Biden holding on to fewer of his 2020 backers than does Trump, CNN reported.
Overall, just 35% in Michigan and 39% in Georgia approve of Biden’s job performance, the surveys found, and majorities in both states say his policies have worsened economic conditions in the country (54% in Georgia, 56% in Michigan).
About one-quarter of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters in each state disapprove of Biden, and just over 4 in 10 say his policies have not helped the country’s economy.
Michigan has a large Muslim American population, and Biden's strong support for Israel is unpopular with this group of voters, the poll found.
Axios reported that Arab American and Muslim American anger over the president's handling of the Israel-Hamas war could endanger his re-election in the majority of 2024 swing states.
More younger Democratic voters than older ones disapprove of Biden's support for Israel's government.
Younger voters in both states break in Trump’s favor in a hypothetical matchup (50% to 40% among voters aged 45 or younger in Georgia, 49% to 38% in Michigan), according to the CNN polls. That’s at least in part due to defections among Democratic-aligned younger voters, CNN said.
In both Michigan and Georgia, Biden is more popular with older voters in his own party. Biden carries more than 90% of the vote among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters aged 45 or older, compared to 78% support among younger Democratic-aligned voters in Michigan and 80% among that group in Georgia.
Most voters in both Michigan and Georgia say Biden, who is 81, does not have the attributes they’re looking for in a president when it comes to his policy positions (57% in Michigan, 56% in Georgia), his ability to understand the problems of people like them (60% in Michigan, 56% in Georgia), or his sharpness and stamina (69% in Michigan, 66% in Georgia).
Trump, who is 77, fares worse than Biden on temperament, with 57% in Michigan and 58% in Georgia saying the former president doesn’t have the temperament they’re looking for in a president, compared to about half who say the same about Biden, according to the CNN polls.
Michigan will hold presidential primaries on Feb. 27, 2024, while Georgia’s primaries are set for March 12. Trump’s lead among likely GOP primary voters in each state mirrors his performance in primary polling nationally, with 58% in Michigan and 55% in Georgia saying he’s their first choice for the nomination.
CNN notes that Trump's electability may be impacted by the criminal cases he has to contend with in 2024. The polls found that Georgia voters largely approve of the charges brought against Trump in the state’s Fulton County case over 2020 election interference (52% approve and 47% disapprove), with 47% saying that, if true, those charges should disqualify Trump from the presidency, and another 14% seeing them as casting doubts on his fitness for the job should they prove true.
A similar share of Michigan voters in the polls, 46%, say the criminal charges Trump faces are disqualifying if true, with an additional 14% saying they would, at a minimum, cast doubts on his fitness for the job.
The CNN polls were conducted online and by telephone by SSRS. In Michigan, a random sample of 1,197 registered voters was surveyed from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6, and in Georgia, a random sample of 1,068 registered voters was surveyed from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7.
The surveys included oversamples of likely Republican primary voters and younger voters in order to better assess views among those groups. Results among the oversampled groups were weighted so they reflect their actual share of all registered voters within the overall results.
Results for the full sample in Michigan have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points; in Georgia for the full sample the margin of sampling error is 3.3 points.