Biden-Trump rematch a step closer but both are unpopular

Incumbent's announcement to run for re-election means he may again go head-to-head with his presidential predecessor

US President Joe Biden, right, and former president Donald Trump. left, have both launched 2024 presidential campaigns. AFP

An election rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump next year is looking ever more likely after the Democratic president announced his intention on Tuesday to seek a second term, while the Republican front-runner enjoys growing momentum to secure his party's nomination.

But a rerun of 2020 is a prospect that fills many Americans with dread, as both men are hugely unpopular.

Back then, Mr Biden beat Mr Trump by seven million votes. Now, Mr Trump's divisive brand of grievance politics is a turn-off for most voters, as evidenced by him losing the popular vote in 2016 and again in 2020. The candidates he backed fell short in last year's midterms and several elections before then.

Mr Biden's approval ratings, meanwhile, stand at only 42.5 per cent, according to figures collated by FiveThirtyEight, significantly lower than the 50 per cent minimum rating that has historically propelled former presidents into second terms.

“I just feel like we are careening towards the rematch that absolutely no one wants, which is Trump versus Biden," Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as White House head of strategic communications under Mr Trump, told The View.

"I don’t want Trump … it’s an embarrassment that we’re saying this is the best Republican can put up."

More than two years into his term, Mr Biden has managed to secure several significant wins for his Democratic Party and scored bipartisan investment for pandemic relief, infrastructure, health care and climate change.

But Mr Biden continues to be dogged by concerns about his age. At 80, he is already the oldest US president. Should he win in 2024, he would be 86 by the end of his second term.

Polls show that most Americans, including Democrats, do not support him running again, citing his age as a major factor.

Seventy-three per cent of Americans, including a slim majority of Democrats — 52 per cent — said they would not want Mr Biden to run again, according to an AP-NORC poll published last week.

According to an NBC poll, among those who said he should not run, 48 per cent cited his age as the main reason.

Mr Trump, who announced his candidacy in November, is 76 — the same age Mr Biden was when he launched his first campaign in 2019.

The former president's continuing refusal to accept his defeat to Mr Biden in 2020 is seen as a dangerous threat to American democracy, and Mr Trump is embroiled in several criminal and civil investigations and has been charged with 34 felonies in New York stemming from his alleged payoffs to an adult film star.

According to polls aggregated by FiveThirtyEight, 54 per cent of Americans view Mr Trump unfavourably.

Still, he remains popular among Republican voters, with 51 per cent saying they support him, well ahead of his main challenger, Ron DeSantis, the 44-year-old governor of Florida.

A poll conducted last month by Echelon Insights shows Mr Biden leading both Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis by two percentage points in a hypothetical match-up.

Lindsay Chervinsky, presidential historian and author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, said Mr Biden believes he is the only person who can defeat Mr Trump.

"So if Trump had gone away, for whatever reason, I think Biden probably would have thought seriously about a different strategy," Ms Chervinsky told The National.

Mr Biden has previously said he would enjoy a rematch with Mr Trump, having already beaten him once.

“I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” Mr Biden said last year.