Most Americans are dissatisfied with their choices for president

Washington DC, January 25, 2024— New Reuters/Ipsos polling finds that Americans are dissatisfied with their choices for president. Most feel that Donald Trump (56%) and Joe Biden (70%) should not run for president again in 2024. Two in three (67%) say they are tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree with that sentiment. Overall, a bare majority of Americans (52%) are not satisfied with the two-party system and want a third choice.

When asked who they would vote for if the presidential election were held today, two in five Americans (40%) choose Trump, while about one in three (34%) pick Biden. The rest either say some other candidate (7%), they wouldn’t vote (11%), or they don’t know (8%).

When independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dean Phillips are added to the ballot question, the results shift slightly. Thirty-six percent of Americans pick Trump, 30% choose Biden, 8% select RFK Jr., 2% prefer Phillips, and the rest wouldn’t vote (10%) or don’t know (13%).

Among people who report wanting to vote for Joe Biden, 59% say they are voting for him because they are voting against Trump and his policies. At the same time, a majority (59%) of people who say they are voting for Trump say they are voting for him because they support him and his policies.

About the Study 

This Ipsos poll was conducted January 22-24, 2024, by Ipsos for Reuters using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a representative probability sample of 1,250 general population adults age 18 or older in the United States. The sample includes 478 Democrats, 572 Republicans, and 118 independents.

The margin of sampling error for this study is plus or minus 2.86 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.06. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on other sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent. This poll also has a margin of plus or minus 5.47 percentage points for Democrats and plus or minus 5.02 percentage points for Republicans.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population. The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, Census region, education, household income, political party identification, and 2020 presidential vote. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2023 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The official 2020 election results benchmarks came from the Federal Election Commission. More details about the weighting benchmarks for this study can be found below:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60+)
• Race-Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other/Non-Hispanic and 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) by Metropolitan Status (Metro, Non-Metro)
• Education (Less than High School, High School graduate or equivalent, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
• Household Income (under $25K, $25K-$49,999, $50K-$74,999, $75K-$99,999, $100K-$149,999, $150K and over)
• Vote Choice 2020 (Biden, Trump, Other/Did not vote/DK)

For more information on this news release, please contact: 

Chris Jackson 

Senior Vice President, US Public Affairs 

+1 202 420-2025 

[email protected] 

Annaleise Azevedo Lohr 

Director, U.S. Public Affairs 

[email protected]

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