President Joe Biden leads former president Donald Trump 50 to 44 in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a new national Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Thursday.

The new poll shows Biden pulling ahead of the former president since December, when 47% of respondents to the same hypothetical election preferred Biden and 46% supported Trump.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden leads former president Donald Trump 50% to 44% in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a new national Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Thursday

  • In December, 47% of respondents to the same hypothetical election preferred Biden and 46% supported Trump

  • In a hypothetical general election between Biden and Nikki Haley, Haley leads Biden 47% to 42%

  • In a five-candidate race that includes the Independent and Green parties, Biden leads regardless of whether Haley or Trump wins the GOP nomination

Biden’s support is largely from Democrats, 96% of whom said they support him, independents (52%) and women (58%). Biden’s support among women rose from 53% in December.

Trump’s support is largely from Republicans, 92% of whom said they support him, and men (53%).

“The gender demographic tells a story to keep an eye on,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement. “Propelled by female voters in just the past few weeks, the head-to-head tie with Trump morphs into a modest lead for Biden.”

In a hypothetical 2024 general election with third-party candidates, Biden has 39% voter support and Trump has 37%. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., receives 14% of the vote, independent Cornel West receives 3% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein gets 2%.

Among independent voters in the five-person matchup, Biden leads with 35% support, followed by Trump (27%), Kennedy (24%), West (5%) and Stein (5%).

If Nikki Haley wins the GOP nomination and is up against President Biden in the general election instead of Trump, voters in a hypothetical matchup support Haley (47%) over Biden (42%). In the Haley-Biden matchup, the poll found 87% of Democrats support Biden, while 79% of Republicans and 53% of independents support Haley.

In a hypothetical 2024 general election with five candidates, where Haley is the GOP nominee, Biden leads with 36% voter support, followed by Haley (29%), Kennedy (21%), West (3%) and Stein (2%).

“In a head-to-head matchup against Biden, Haley outperforms Trump thanks to independents,” Malloy said. “Add third party candidates to the mix, and her numbers slip in part because of her weakness among Republicans.”

Following the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary that narrowed the GOP field to Trump and Haley, the new Quinnipiac poll found Trump (77%) commanding even more of the Republican and Republican-leaning vote compared with Haley (21%).

Among Democrats, Biden receives 78% support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, followed by Marianne Williamson (11%) and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips (6%).

Biden’s job approval rating stands at 41%, according to the poll, his highest such figure since June 2023. More voters disapprove than approve of his handling of the economy, foreign policy, the response to the war between Israel and Hamas and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Slightly more voters approve (47%) than disapprove (46%) of his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a statistical tie which falls within the poll's margin of error.

The most urgent issue facing the United States, according to the poll, is preserving democracy in the U.S. (24%), followed by the economy (20%) and immigration (20%).

Republicans ranked immigration as the most urgent issue (38%), followed by the economy (29%) and preserving democracy in the country (12%).

Democrats ranked preserving democracy in the U.S. as the most urgent issue (39%) followed by the economy (12%); no other issue reached single-digits, including immigration (4%), crime (2%), gun violence (7%) or climate change (8%).

Independents ranked preserving democracy as the most urgent issue (23%), followed by immigration (19%) and the economy (18%).

The Quinnipiac survey was conducted with 1,650 self-identified registered voters between January 25-29, including 696 Republican and Republican-leaning voters and 693 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. The margin of error was +/- 2.4 percentage points.