Former President Donald Trump has made a triumphant comeback in the liberal state of California ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
According to a survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS), President Joe Biden’s recent abysmal approval numbers could threaten his re-election campaign, as 52 percent have shown dissatisfaction with his performance and only 44 percent approve.
While the poll showed that Biden leads Trump by 15 points in a hypothetical rematch of the 2020 presidential election, 23 percent of California voters said that they are still undecided.
“However, large proportions of 2020 Biden voters and Trump voters do not express a preference in the current poll if Biden and Trump are the only candidates,” IGS said.
The California Republican Party rules indicate that if any candidate secures more than half of the primary votes, they will be awarded all of the state’s 169 convention delegates—the country’s largest state number.
The incumbent president’s lead over Trump is similar in a simulated four-candidate field, including independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West. In that scenario, Biden gets 43 percent, Trump 29 percent, Kennedy 9 percent, and West 4 percent.
“While Biden is in no danger of losing California, his low approval ratings underscore the deep challenges the president faces in solidifying the support of his Democratic base and appealing to swing voters. It is a clear warning sign for his national campaign,” IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler said.
This comes as Biden is further losing Democratic support thanks to his mishandling of the southern border crisis and the Israel-Hamas war, among other things.
A separate survey from Gallup recently revealed that support among Democratic voters slid by 11 points from September. Only 75 percent of Democrats support the president, compared to last month’s 86 percent.
The president could also lose the far-left Democrats, as they are demanding Biden stop supporting Israel and take a firm stance against the country’s crusade in Gaza. Users of X, formerly Twitter, have taken to the social media platform to declare that they won’t vote for him next year.
“Biden’s immediate and decisive show of support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas appears to have turned off some in his own party, resulting in Democrats’ worst assessment of the president since he took office,” Gallup said.
