Undecided voters are leaning toward Joe Biden, poll shows


Back in 2016, Reuters/Ipsos polling found that, in the months leading up to the general election, President Trump and his Democratic competitor Hillary Clinton garnered an equal amount of support among third party or undecided voters. Eventually, a majority of those voters backed Trump when they went to the booth. But a new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests that he'll have a tough time repeating that against former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020.
A majority of undecided or third party voters — 61 percent — responded that they would support the presumptive Democratic nominee if they had to choose. And 70 percent of those said they disapprove of Trump's performance in the Oval Office so far, and they don't have much hope that he can turn things around.
Based on the numbers, that pessimism seems tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the undecided group, about 80 percent are concerned about the spread of the virus, and a plurality of respondents said electing a candidate with a "robust plan" to help the U.S. recover from the pandemic was the driving factor in deciding their vote.
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The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 4,430 American adults, including 3,744 registered voters. The margin of error was 2 percentage points overall and 5 percentage points among undecided or third party voters. Read more at Reuters.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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