Trump's RNC polling bounce more about 'subtraction on the Biden side,' pollster suggests
President Trump's post-Republican National Convention polling bounce was particularly evident among white and suburban voters, a new Morning Consult poll shows.
Overall, the RNC helped Trump shrink Biden's previously 10-point lead to a six-point advantage, 50 percent to 44 percent. Among suburbanites, Biden led by 14 points after the Democratic National Convention (54 percent to 40 percent), but after the RNC finished, that had dwindled to a 50-42 margin. Trump also increased his lead from two points to eight points among white voters, though his already-dismal prospects among voters of color got slightly worse.
While the results are good news for the Trump campaign, they aren't necessarily that drastic in a larger context. That's because the two conventions are seemingly tied to one another — Biden received a boost in favorability ratings after the DNC, but the numbers went back down to their pre-convention standing after the RNC, which means it was mostly a wash, Morning Consult's Cameron Easley notes. Easley argues the polling suggests something similar when it comes to white and suburban voters in that it was more about Biden losing that extra jolt than Trump surging.
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 Morning Consult poll was conducted Friday when 4,035 likely voters were surveyed. The margin of error was 2 percent. Read more at Morning Consult.
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.
-
Do you have to pay taxes on student loan forgiveness?The Explainer As of 2026, some loan borrowers may face a sizable tax bill
-
Planning a move? Here are the steps to take next.the explainer Stay organized and on budget
-
What should you look out for when buying a house?The Explainer Avoid a case of buyer’s remorse
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
