Poll: 50 percent of voters really hate Trump. Only 27 percent really hate Biden.

Joe Biden
(Image credit: Getty Images)

A significantly lower percentage of voters strongly dislike presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden than strongly dislike President Trump, according to a new national poll.

In a poll of registered voters from The New York Times and Siena College published on Wednesday, Biden holds a 14-point lead over Trump, and the survey suggests Biden is a "broadly acceptable candidate who inspires relatively few strong feelings in either direction," the Times observes.

After all, although 50 percent of registered voters in the poll said they have a very unfavorable impression of Trump, only 27 percent said they have a very unfavorable impression of Biden. This is compared to 26 percent who said they have a very favorable impression of Biden. For Trump, 27 percent of voters view him very favorably.

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The Times' Alex Burns observes that Biden has such a big lead over Trump not "because of his own runaway popularity," but "because he's broadly acceptable as an alternative to a strongly disliked incumbent."

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Meanwhile, the Times' Ben Smith points to these numbers as evidence that Trump's go-to nickname used to attack Biden — "Sleepy Joe" — hasn't been particularly effective and "seems to have been a massive error," as "the contrast with erratic, late night rage-tweeting is built in." Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer previously made a similar point, writing, "The name 'Sleepy' Joe Biden should be retired" since "it's not working for Trump."

The poll was conducted by speaking to 1,337 registered voters from June 17-22. The margin of error is three percentage points. Read more at The New York Times.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.