Gender gap expands between Biden and Trump, new poll shows

The gender gap is growing between supporters of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters.

And that’s good news for the Democratic incumbent: Biden holds a slight lead over Trump in Wednesday’s 2024 presidential election poll, 50 percent to 44 percent. The same matchup was “too close to call” just a month ago.

More women said they would support Biden over Trump in this latest survey, with 58 percent backing Biden and 36 percent backing Trump. Last month, the Quinnipiac poll found 53 percent of women supported the incumbent Democrat, compared to 41 percent for the Republican challenger.

The numbers were relatively unchanged for men — 53 percent of men said they’d vote for Trump and 42 percent chose Biden in the latest poll, compared to 51 percent for Biden and 41 percent for Trump in December.

“The gender demographic tells a story to keep an eye on," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement. "Propelled by female voters in just the past few weeks, the head-to-head tie with Trump morphs into a modest lead for Biden."

It’s a different story for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who trails far behind Trump in the Republican primary. The poll found Haley would do better than Trump in a general election, with 47 percent of respondents supporting Haley and 42 percent supporting Biden.

Haley’s support comes largely from independents, with 53 percent saying they’d vote for her. Another 37 percent would back Biden. In the same poll, 52 percent of independents said they’d support Biden over Trump, who’d have the support of 40 percent of respondents.

“In a head-to-head matchup against Biden, Haley outperforms Trump, thanks to independents,” Malloy said. “Add third party candidates to the mix and her numbers slip in part because of her weakness among Republicans.”

The poll surveyed 1,650 self-identified registered voters nationwide from Jan. 25 to 29, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.4 percentage points. Surveys conducted by Quinnipiac University are based on random sampling.