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Donald Trump is “corrupt” and “dishonest”, and Joe Biden is “old” and “confused”. These were the words used by most American respondents in a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research when asked to describe the top Democrat and Republican candidates for the next year’s election.

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The new poll indicated that neither Trump nor Biden were among the top choices for the voters. The survey showed that around 62 per cent of Americans had an unfavourable opinion of Trump, while 52 per cent of Biden.

A majority of US adults, both Democrat and Republican supporters, mentioned Biden’s age when asked what they thought about the US president. They also expressed concerns about his ability to continue as president. Biden is 80-years-old, just three years older than Trump.

The views weren’t positive for Trump either, who has been indicted in four cases, including the election subversion case and hush money case.

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'Crooked' Trump and 'outdated' Biden

Words such as “corrupt” and “crooked” figured prominently when they talked about the former president.

Other words elicited by people for Trump include “bad”, “liar” and “dishonest” (8%).

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Only 8 per cent of the surveyors responded with positive comments like “good”.

For Biden, 26 per cent of respondents used words like “old” or “outdated” to describe him, while 15 per cent mentioned “slow” and “confused.”

Another 10 per cent gave generally negative comments about the president, and 6% used words like “corrupt” and “crooked.”

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When looking at the positive comments made about Biden, only 6 per cent spoke words like “president” and “leader,” and 5 per cent used “strong” and “capable”.

The results suggested that top contenders to run for the White House didn’t find many takers among the voters.

'Won't vote for either'

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Rami Marsha, a 58-year-old CEO of a manufacturing company in Agoura Hills, California, is a registered Democrat who voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020.

He told the AP news agency that he would leave the presidential race portion of his ballot blank if those two squared off again in 2024.

“I think he might be having some dementia, and I don’t think he has the power to run the country,” Marsha said of Biden. But he was equally blunt about Trump: “I’ve had enough of him.”

The poll shows that only 24 per cent of Americans overall want to see Biden run again, while 30 per cent say the same about Trump. A majority of them say they are reluctant to support them if they are nominated again.

(With inputs from agencies)

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