Trump Focuses Attacks On Biden As Polls Show Former President Winning Rematch

Topline

Former President Donald Trump launched a barrage of attacks against President Joe Biden on Monday, a day after a new poll showed Trump beating the president in a hypothetical matchup, as Biden’s approval rating slides amid concerns he is too old to run for a second term.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking during an event at his Mar-a-Lago … [+] home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Trump reprised attacks against Biden for his failure to visit the scene of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this year, writing on Truth Social that “Crooked Joe Biden has still not visited the incredible Patriots of East Palestine,” while offering his endorsement for a bipartisan rail-safety bill co-sponsored by his ally Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio).

Trump recently coined the new nickname for Biden in an effort to highlight claims that he used his position as vice-president to enrich his son, Hunter Biden’s, business ventures—an allegation that dogged Biden during his 2020 campaign against Trump and one that is the focus of a multitude of Republican-led House investigations against Hunter Biden.

Trump on Monday also attacked Biden for advocating for South Carolina to replace Iowa as the first-in-the-nation primary state, writing that “unlike Joe Biden, I protected Iowa’s First-in-the-Nation Caucuses, and always will,” while announcing he plans to visit Des Moines on Saturday.

Trump was referring to Biden’s recommendation that the party make South Carolina the first state to hold primary elections, a move the Democratic National Committee said was an effort to rally support from Black voters and one that comes after election mishaps in Iowa’s 2020 caucuses delayed results there for days.

Trump also visited Iowa in March and notably focused his attack lines on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he accused of voting against agriculture subsidies during his time in Congress and wanting to cut Social Security spending.

Trump has since turned his ire toward Biden as polls show him trouncing DeSantis in a hypothetical GOP primary and narrowly beating Biden in a general election rematch, with a Washington Post-ABC News survey released Sunday showing Biden trailing Trump by six points (margin of error 3.5).

Big Number

60%. That’s the share of respondents in the Washington Post-ABC poll who said Biden lacks the physical health and “mental sharpness” to serve a second term, compared to 64% of voters who said Trump was physically fit and 54% who said he was mentally sharp.

Key Background

Biden launched his re-election campaign on April 25 amid concerns that he is too old to run again. At 80, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history and would be 86 at the end of his second term. Trump, who is 76 and was 70 years old when he was sworn in in 2017, is the second oldest president in history. In the months since Trump launched his campaign in November, he has surged in polls, surpassing DeSantis in a hypothetical 2024 primary matchup. He now leads him by 23 points, according to the Washington Post-ABC poll. DeSantis has yet to formally announce his candidacy, but is widely expected to do so within the next month.

Tangent

Less than half of survey respondents view both Biden and Trump as honest and trustworthy, though Biden fares slightly better at 41% compared to Trump’s 33%. A majority of those surveyed also said Trump should face criminal charges in at least three of the ongoing law enforcement investigations against him: the Justice Department probes into his role in the January 6 Capitol riots and his handling of classified documents, along with the Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Slightly less than half, 49%, support the Manhattan District Attorney’s charges against Trump in connection with a hush-money scheme to cover up allegations of an affair with a porn star. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case last month.

What To Watch For

Biden told reporters in March he would visit East Palestine “at some point,” but did not give a timeline for doing so. The promise came as he faced criticism for traveling to Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of its war with Russia, while East Palestine was recovering from a train derailment that caused an environmental disaster. Vance, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a bill in the wake of the derailment that would limit train sizes, enhance safety inspections and increase fines for safety violations. It has broad bipartisan support in Congress and is set for a review by the Senate Commerce Committee this week.

Contra

The White House targeted rail safety rollbacks under Trump and urged his administration and Congressional Republicans to apologize for the blocking regulations as a counter-attack to the GOP’s criticism of Biden’s response to the East Palestine derailment. The Biden Administration pointed to Trump’s decision to nix an Obama-era proposal that would have required stronger brakes on trains carrying hazardous materials, along with Republican lawmakers’ efforts to block Biden’s plan to designate more wetlands and waterways as federally protected land, which would require businesses to obtain permits for activities that could harm water quality. Seeking to draw a contrast with Biden, Trump visited East Palestine in February alongside Vance and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), and delivered pallets of water and cleaning supplies.