The approval rating for Donald Trump fell slightly since February (43%), but remains high among Republican voters.
Vancouver, BC [April 6, 2020] – The prospect of foreign meddling in this year’s United States presidential ballot is causing distress for a sizeable proportion of Americans, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 50% of Americans say they have “not much confidence” or “no confidence at all” that foreign countries will not interfere in the election.
“The possibility of foreign entities intruding in the democratic process is a bigger concern among Democrats (64%) and Independents (56%) in the United States,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Conversely, only 23% of Republicans share the same level of wariness.”
Two-in-five Americans (40%) express little confidence that the systems that are currently in place to cast their ballot (such as electronic voting machines) will not be tampered with.
More than a third of Americans are not particularly confident that their vote will be accurately counted (35%) and that the systems that are currently in place to cast their ballot (such as electronic voting machines) will work properly (34%).
While a third of White Americans (33%) express “not much confidence” or “no confidence at all” in their vote being accurately tallied (33%), the proportion rises to 42% among Hispanic and Latino voters and 44% among African Americans.
Americans who usually watch television news on MSNBC and CNBC are more likely to express little or no confidence in electronic voting machines working properly (45%) than those who watch Fox News (30%) or CNN (29%).
With seven months to go before the next presidential election, 43% of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s performance, down two points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted after his State of the Union address in February.
Trump’s approval rating is higher among men (49%) and Americans aged 55 and over (46%), and lower among women (38%) and Americans aged 18-to-34 (35%).
The incumbent president holds healthier numbers among Republican voters (85%) and Americans who cast a ballot for him in 2016 (86%). Trump’s disapproval rating is highest among Democrats (80%) and those who voted for Hillary Clinton in the last presidential election (87%).
White Americans are almost evenly split in their assessment of Trump (47% approve, 49% disapprove). Majorities of African Americans (71%) and Hispanics (64%) are dissatisfied with the president’s performance.
Two thirds of Americans who usually watch Fox News (67%) approve of the way Trump has handled his job. Fewer than three-in-ten viewers of CNN (28%) and MSNBC/CNBC (25%) concur.
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted on April 3, 2020, among 1,000 American adults. The data has been statistically weighted according to U.S. census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our datasets here and here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca