Joe Biden vs Trump: Poll finds voters prefer former US vice president

A new poll has shown that former US Vice President Joe Biden can beat US President Donald Trump if they were to face off in a general election. Forty-six percent of voters would put Biden in the Oval Office, while 35 percent would vote for Trump in 2020.

This is according to a Politico/Morning Consult survey, which found that independent voters would support Biden over the current commander-in-chief by a 15-point margin. A fifth of respondents were undecided between Trump and Biden.

“Former Vice President Joe Biden has the upper hand in a hypothetical matchup against President Donald Trump, but he underperforms compared with a generic Democrat,” Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult’s co-founder and chief research officer, said. He noted that eighty-six percent of Democrats say they would vote for a generic Democrat over Trump. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats say they prefer Biden over Trump.

The poll also found that Biden has a 9-point lead in the Midwest, 45 percent to 36 percent - roughly equal to his national advantage while Trump and Biden run neck-and-neck among white voters. Biden is slightly behind Trump among white voters without a college degree. The poll of 1,993 registered voters was conducted from November 9-11.

Biden said during an appearance on TODAY that he is currently focused on the promotion of his new book, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.” He said he is not completely ruling out a run and not closing the door.

“I've been around too long, and I'm a great respecter of fate, but who knows what the situation is going to be a year-and-a-half from now," Biden said. The 75-year-old maintained that he is currently in good health, but he seemed unsure if he will join the 2020 race.

While with TODAY's Matt Lauer, Biden has asked a group of people what they thought of a potential 2020 run. He later said he was joking.

Biden celebrated his birthday on Monday, and former US President Barack Obama tweeted a meme that seemed to capture their friendship over the years. The meme shows a serious Obama giving his 2014 State of the Union address before Congress as Biden hilariously grinned at the background. Obama described Biden as “my brother and the best vice president anybody could have.”

Biden’s wife Jill also tweeted a photo of them together. She described him as “the man who still takes my breath away.”