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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
5 capitulating cartoons about the Democrat's shutdown surrenderCartoons Artists take on Democrat's folding, flag-waving, and more
-
How are these Epstein files so damaging to Trump?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As Republicans and Democrats release dueling tranches of Epstein-related documents, the White House finds itself caught in a mess partially of its own making
-
Margaret Atwood’s memoir, intergenerational trauma and the fight to make spousal rape a crime: Welcome to November booksThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Cursed Daughters’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite and 'Without Consent' by Sarah Weinman
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
