Consistent with other polls taken in since the virus started in March…
Donald Trump is behind Joe Biden in his handling of the virus and economy…
(EVERY POLL)
And?
This poll was taken during the first days after the Floyd incident also….
Democrats are counting on strong support from suburban voters, especially women, to help fuel a possible victory in November. Currently, suburbanites are more favorable toward Biden than they were toward Clinton in May 2016, with Biden at 50 percent favorable compared with 38 percent who were favorable toward Clinton then.
The difference is evident among both suburban women (56 percent say they are favorable of Biden now, 42 percent were favorable of Clinton then) and suburban men (43 percent vs. 33 percent).
Among Hispanics, whose votes are crucial to Democrats’ hopes, Biden is viewed less favorably today than was Clinton in May 2016. Four years ago, Clinton was viewed favorably by 76 percent of Hispanics. Today, 56 percent see Biden favorably. During the primary season, Biden sometimes fared poorly among Hispanics compared with his rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
It is on a range of personal attributes that Biden’s standing solidifies. Nearly half (48 percent) see Biden as honest and trustworthy, compared with 35 percent for Trump. On the question of empathy, Biden is viewed slightly negatively overall, with 45 percent saying he “understands the problems of people like you” and 49 percent saying he does not. Yet Trump fares worse at 38 percent saying he does and 61 saying he does not.
Biden also rates higher than Trump on whether he has the personality and temperament to be president and whether he has the mental sharpness to serve as president. In both cases, a narrow majority say yes for Biden while a narrow majority say Trump does not have the mental sharpness needed and a larger majority say he lacks the proper personality and temperament.
Trump scores slightly better on the question of whether he is a strong leader, with 50 percent saying yes and 49 percent saying no. For Biden, 43 percent see him as a strong leader while 49 percent do not.
Senior citizen voters helped propel Trump in 2016, and the poll underscores how the group’s differing assessment of the 2020 matchup has complicated his chances in November. Four years ago, Trump won seniors by 7 points, 52 percent to 45 percent, according to network exit polls. In the Post-ABC survey, Biden has the edge among older registered voters by 10 points, 54 percent to 44 percent.
Supposedly that master GOP strategist Jared Kushner thinks the best strategy for Trumpublicans is to hold back on doing what a responsible President would do and address the nation on the feelings of anger and frustration so many feel at the murder of George Floyd. Instead by making drive by Tweets focusing on the violent few that he calls “thugs” (even though many are white and possibly supremacists who voted for him). The theory is that the suburban women who are fleeing the GOP to vote for Biden could come back if they feel threatened by the violence. This is the kind of message that could work if Trump were running against the incumbent party. As Nixon did in 1968. And while Nixon ran on “law and order” in light of the 1967-68 protests, he also ran against the outright racism of 3rd party candidate George Wallace
Trump’s current strategy seems to be to skip Nixon’s appeals for peace and go straight to the Wallace playbook–thus
We’ll see how that works out. Walla’ce was polling near 25% in the summer of ’68, but dropped to nearly half of that by Election Day.
The Trump Republicans deserve a similar routing now. It’s the only way to get a message across. Hopefully they, like Wallace did decades later, repent for their appeals to racism to win elections. But I hold no hope that Trump will ever do such,
Good comeback Scott…
I smell a post from it….
Go right ahead.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Michigan finds Joe Biden leading Donald Trump in the presidential race, 50% to 44%.
In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Gary Peters (D) leads John James (R), 48% to 39%….
Politicalwire…