(The Hill) – Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is the only GOP presidential candidate who is leading in a hypothetical matchup with President Joe Biden, according to a new poll.
The CNN poll, released Thursday and conducted by SSRS, found that Haley led Biden 49% to 43%, while every other major Republican candidate remains neck-and-neck with Biden.
No other GOP hopeful — including former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former President Donald Trump — showed more than a 2-point margin in the matchup with the sitting president.
When asked about a potential rematch between Trump and Biden, 47% said they would choose the former president and 46% said they would chose the current president. Five percent said they would choose a different candidate and 2% said they did not plan to vote.
The poll also found that 46% of voters said any Republican presidential nominee would be better than Biden in next year’s election, while 32% said the sitting president would be a better choice than any of the GOP hopefuls. In comparison, 44% said that any Democratic nominee would be better than Trump, while 38% say the former president is better than any Democratic nominee.
Among Democrats, the poll discovered that 67% would like to see the party nominate someone other than Biden — which is up from the 54% who said the same in March. Out of those who would like to see a different candidate, 82% said they did not have any specific person in mind. Just 1% said that they would vote for either of Biden’s 2024 challengers: author Marianne Williamson or Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The poll was conducted be SSRS from Aug. 25-31 among 1,259 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.