Trump dominates Biden on key issues of border, economy: NBC poll

A poll recently conducted by NBC News found that Americans believe former President Donald Trump would perform better on a number of key issues than his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden.

When it came to the handling of the economy, for example, the former president was preferred over his successor by 22 percent, and on securing the border, the gap was over 30 percent.

According to the poll, Trump was seen as the better option on six of the top nine issues. The other three issues were "protecting democracy," "dealing with the issue of abortion," and "treating immigrants humanely and protecting immigrant rights, " where Biden was up by 2, 12 and 17 points, respectively.

On "securing the border and controlling immigration," 57 percent of voters said Trump would do a better job compared to just 22 percent who said the same for Biden. In the months since the question was asked in September 2020, the situation at the border has continued to deteriorate. During that time, Trump gained 8 percent while Biden lost 11 percent.

A similar trend appeared when it came to "dealing with the economy." Over half, 55 percent, of respondents said Trump would to a better job, while just 33 percent said Biden would, another increase and drop of 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively from the previous poll in Oct 2020.

Whereas Biden led Trump on the issue of handling "crime and violence" by 4 percent before taking office, the former president is now preferred by 21 percent more voters. The tides also turned when it came to "being competent and effective."

Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans came to view Trump as "having the necessary mental and physical health to be president," with a jump from 40 to 46 percent. During that same time, the number of Americans who thought Biden had what it takes in that category plummeted from 41 to 23 percent.

The poll was conducted between January 26-30, 2024, among 1000 registered voters, 867 of whom were contacted via cellphone. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.