WASHINGTON – United States President Joe Biden’s approval slid to a career low in the latest opinion poll for ABC News and the Washington Post that also showed him lagging his predecessor Donald Trump in early voter preferences for the 2024 election.

The percentage of those approving of Mr Biden’s performance fell to 36 per cent, six points lower than in February and a point off his previous low in early 2022, according to the survey conducted for the news organisations by Langer Research Associates.

Some 56 per cent disapproved of his performance, while 68 per cent regarded Mr Biden, at 80, as too old for another term.

On the question of whom voters prefer for 2024, only 44 per cent viewed Trump, 76, as too advanced in years.

Participants also rated Trump’s physical health and mental acuity higher, and perceived the former president as having done a better job handling the economy when he was president than Mr Biden has done in his term so far.

When asked who they would support in 2024, 44 per cent said they would “definitely” or “probably” vote for Trump, more than the 38 per cent who said they would do the same for Mr Biden.

The poll was conducted from April 28 to May 3 among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. Overall results had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. BLOOMBERG