Indian-American former UN ambassador Nikki Haley leads US president Joe Biden in hypothetical 2024 head-to-head matchups, according to a new poll.

The poll released by Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies this week found the US president trailing behind GOP candidates, Donald Trump, Haley, and Tim Scott, but ahead of Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

41% backed Nikki Haley

When asked about a hypothetical matchup between Haley and Biden in 2024, 41% of respondents said they would back her, in comparison to 37% who said they would support the current president.

21% of respondents said they didn’t know or were unsure who they would support -- Biden or Haley.

“No question that president Joe Biden is showing lagging national poll numbers and that now multiple GOP candidates are ahead of him. This is a new development as (non-Trump) potential opponents like Haley get exposure,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the poll, told a political website.

The poll found that 44% of respondents said they would vote for Trump, while 40% said they would back Biden.

A separate 15% said they were unsure or didn’t know in a poll largely unchanged from a similar poll in July that had Trump at 45% and Biden at 40%, reported the political website.

When asked about a match between Biden and Scott, the former received 37%, while the latter got 39% in the poll conducted from Sept 12-14 with 2,103 registered voters.

Joe Biden performed better than Ramaswamy

Biden performed better than the other Indian-American in the race, Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in at 37% while Biden received 39%.

The octogenarian also did well against former vice president Mike Pence and DeSantis but a slew of negative polls point to his age as an issue for the president.

America’s oldest ever president, Biden had recently said that a lot of people seem focused on his age. “I get it, believe me, I know it more than anyone. I’m running because democracy is at stake, because in 2024 democracy is on the ballot once again. And let there be no question: Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy”.

Assessing how Republican candidates would fare in a race against Vice President Kamala Haris, the poll found that Trump was the only candidate who would defeat Harris in a head-to-head race (46% - 40%).

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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