2024 Election Polls: Trump Leads Biden, DeSantis; Voters Say He's Healthier To Lead US

A new poll has revealed that former President Donald Trump holds a seven-point advantage over President Joe Biden, whose mental acuity and advanced age are becoming a major concern for Americans.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Friday found that 49% of surveyed either would definitely vote, probably vote or are considering supporting Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup with the current president if he and Biden are the Republican and Democratic nominees, respectively. About 42% said they would definitely or probably go for Biden in 2024.

A broad 68% said in the survey that Biden, 80, is too old for another term as president, while only 44% are concerned about 76-year-old Trump's age.

The former president also far surpasses Biden in being seen as possessing the mental sharpness and physical strength to effectively serve as president, according to the poll.

In terms of the economy, the survey showed that Americans prefer Trump's handling of it, with 54% saying that Trump did a better job when he was president and only 36% saying Biden performed better in his term so far.

The poll also found that Biden would lose to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by seven points. About 48% said they would definitely vote for or support DeSantis, while only 41% said the same thing about Biden.

Biden's net approval rating is only 36% in this poll, down six percentage points from February's 42%. So far, he has the lowest approval rating for any first-term president one and a half years before a presidential election since Harry Truman, according to ABC News.

Meanwhile, among Republicans surveyed, 43% preferred Trump as the Republican 2024 presidential nominee, while only 20% picked DeSantis.

Although Trump is leading against his opponents by a relatively wide margin, he also has challenges of his own. About 56% said in the survey that he should face criminal charges for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and for the violence in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

About 49% said they believe that the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for which he was indicted were "brought appropriately to hold Trump accountable under the law like anyone else." Only 44% think it was handled "inappropriately to try to hurt Trump politically."

In terms of party affiliation, 90% of Democrats think the charges against Trump are appropriate, and 82% of Republicans said it was inappropriate. For independents, 47% believe they were appropriate, and 40% believe they were not.

The poll was conducted between April 26 to May 3 with a sampling size of 1,006 adults. The margin of sampling error is 3.5%.