Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton? 'Pathetic Dem field' may see a 2016 rematch in 2024

While Clinton said she would be willing to 'bet on' Trump staging a 2024 comeback, she has stayed mum on her run

UPDATED DEC 16, 2021

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may face-off again (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

There are high chances that former first lady Hillary Clinton will make a comeback in the 2024 election bid, what with President Joe Biden's sinking approval numbers and Vice President Kamala Harris' growing unpopularity, a political expert has said. But does that mean the next presidential race will be a mirror image of the 2016 election cycle where Clinton faced off Donald Trump, who ultimately went on to become the 45th POTUS? Only time will tell.

Political commentator Joe Concha explained in an op-ed for the Hill on Wednesday, "Hillary Clinton always seemed to believe the mantle of 'First Female President' was her birthright. And given how pathetic the field is on the Democratic side with or without Joe Biden, she may just get a second chance at winning the office her husband so famously made infamous."

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(L-R) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton shake hands after the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The Democrats currently do not have a viable star candidate in sight for the next presidential election. "The Democratic bench is about as deep as the New York Jets' these days," Concha wrote. "Andrew Cuomo? No longer governor and thoroughly disgraced. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)? He had to spend major time and resources just to avoid being ousted in deep-blue California during a recall election earlier this year. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg? Not even 40 years old, and he has a supply chain crisis on his résumé. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)? Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)? Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)?"

Why did Hillary Clinton lose to Donald Trump in 2016?

A majority of the political pundits were surprised by the historical win that Trump pulled over Clinton in the 2016 election. With the kind of political experience that Clinton boasted of -- including being an ex-first lady, a senator, and a secretary of state, she was touted to be one of the most experienced White House contenders in history. So no one expected her to lose to her opponent, a business mogul and a reality TV personality, who many wrote off as a joke.

Since then, a number of reasons have been cited by experts to explain Clinton's defeat, starting from her misunderstanding of Americans' discontent with the political establishment to former FBI Director James Comey's probe into Clinton's emails. In an interview this past Sunday, Clinton said that she still holds Comey responsible. "I do think but for Jim Comey and the stunt he pulled 10 days before the election, I would have won," Clinton told NBC host Willie Geist.

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey leaves the Rayburn House Office Building after testifying to the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees on Capitol Hill December 07, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While Clinton has been out of the political world for five years now, her former rival and ex-president Trump has been dropping not-so-subtle hints about a comeback in the 2024 race. Surveys of Republican voters have shown that an overwhelming number want Trump to be their 2024 candidate. His poll numbers have been much higher than other possible candidates like ex-Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

While Clinton said on Sunday that she would be willing to "bet on" Trump staging a 2024 comeback, she stayed mum about her future political aspirations. "Are we going to give in to all these lies and this disinformation and this organized effort to undermine our rule of law and our institutions, or are we going to stand up to it?" she said.

Will Biden run for a second term?

Biden will be in his 80s before he actually enters the 2024 election cycle, even though he has made his intentions clear on wanting to remain the POTUS for a second term. Even his running mate Kamala Harris' chances of becoming a primary Democratic candidate now seem increasingly difficult due to reports that brand her a bully, sparking an array of staff exits from her office.

Before an audience of nine families that are benefiting from the new Child Tax Credit, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris deliver remarks on the day tens of millions of parents will get their first monthly payments in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

According to the most recent data from poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, Biden has roughly 50 percent disapproval and merely 43.3 percent approval rating. This makes it close to the lowest he's ever had while president. The VP's rating has fallen even further than Biden, with 41.3 percent approve of the job that she is doing.

Poll numbers also show Trump and Biden being locked in a near-dead heat in a potential 2024 rematch. Biden leads Trump by just a single percentage point, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll. The survey's margin of error is a gap of 2.5 percent. However, 48 percent of respondents to the poll said they preferred Trump's policies to Biden's.