Trump leads Biden in Michigan, Georgia despite indictment: poll

Former President Donald Trump is running in front of President Biden in two battleground states — including one where he’s currently under indictment for trying to overturn the 2020 election result, according to a new poll.

Surveys conducted by SSRS for CNN found Michigan registered voters break for Trump by double digits — 50% to 40% — over Biden, while Georgia registered voters back the former president over his successor by five percentage points — 49% to 44%.

The 2024 matchup polls also found that Trump, 77, is winning support from voters who didn’t participate in the 2020 election by a 26-point margin in Georgia and a 40-point margin in Michigan.

Registered voters who cast their ballots for Biden, 81, in 2020 are also breaking for Trump in both of those states.

Trump lost both Michigan and Georgia in 2020 and was indicted in the Peach State this past August — along with 18 co-defendants — for his attempts to reverse Biden’s victory there.

More than 60% of voters said Biden legitimately won both states last time around, according to the CNN polls, compared with a little more than a third who disagreed.

The polls also revealed 52% of Georgia registered voters approve of the prosecution of Trump by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — but 53% believed the charges were either not disqualifying or irrelevant to his fitness for the White House, even if true.

In Michigan, the exact same percentage also believed Trump’s criminal cases were not disqualifying or irrelevant, whereas 46% said the charges do preclude him from serving a second term if true.

The 45th president is also facing federal indictments alleging he made “knowingly false” claims about voter fraud in the last presidential election, as well as that he unlawfully retained sensitive national security information after leaving office.

Biden, 81, is lagging behind Trump in voter assessments of the candidates’ policy positions, ability to understand the problems Americans face as well as sharpness and stamina, the surveys show.

Majorities of registered voters in Michigan (54%) and Georgia (52%) said Trump’s policy positions are either exactly their own or close enough.

By contrast, 57% in Michigan and 54% in Georgia said Biden’s policy stances are not what they want in a president.

About half of voters in both states also said the former president has the ability to understand problems of people like themselves — with Biden trailing Trump by eight percentage points in that category in Michigan (48% to 40%) and six percentage points in Georgia (50% to 44%).

Most voters in Michigan (55%) and Georgia (53%) also said Trump has the sharpness and stamina to be president again, while roughly a third said the same of Biden.

A whopping 69% of registered voters in Michigan and 66% in Georgia said the Democratic incumbent does not have the sharpness or stamina to serve another term in office.

However, majorities of voters in the battleground states also said Trump doesn’t have the temperament they are looking for in a president.

Biden’s job performance is also underwater in both swing states, with 64% of registered voters in Michigan disapproving of his work and 61% in Georgia saying the same.