Among decided voters, Democratic candidate Joe Biden keeps a sizeable advantage over incumbent Donald Trump.
Vancouver, BC [August 7, 2020] – Most likely voters in the United States reject the notion of delaying the presidential election that is scheduled for November, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of likely voters, two thirds of respondents (68%) think the election should not be postponed to a later date because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Majorities of likely voters who identify as Democrats (75%), Independents (67%) and Republicans (59%) believe this year’s presidential ballot should go on as planned.
More than half of decided voters (53%) would support prospective Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the November election, while 42% would vote for Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Support is decidedly lower for Libertarian nominee Jo Jorgensen (2%), Green nominee Howie Hawkins (1%) and other candidates (also 1%).
These results are largely unchanged at the national level since the July Research Co. survey that also placed Biden ahead by double-digits among decided voters.
The bulk of support for Biden comes from women (59%), decided voters aged 18-to-34 (54%) and African Americans (71%). The race is closer among men, where Biden is slightly ahead of Trump (47% to 45%). Among White voters, Trump is practically tied with Biden (48% to 47%).
More than nine-in-ten decided voters (92%) say they are certain that they will vote for their chosen candidate in the election. This includes 94% of those who intend to support Trump and 91% of those who plan to vote for Biden.
There are some sizeable differences when supporters of the two main contenders are asked about the factors for their choice.
About a third of decided voters who support Trump (34%) say their main motivator is the candidate’s ideas and policies, while fewer point to disgust with other candidates (23%) and Trump’s political party (22%).
Biden voters are primarily motivated by disgust with other candidates (30%), and to a lesser extent by the candidate’s ideas and policies (23%) and his political party (21%).
When asked which one of the two main candidates is better suited to handle specific issues, Biden holds the upper hand on the environment (50%), health care (49%), race relations (48%), education (47%), COVID-19 (46%), government accountability (45%), foreign policy (43%), energy and oil (41%) and managing the deficit (40%)
The two contenders are tied or virtually even on five issues: crime (Trump 39%, Biden 39%), the economy (Trump 43%, Biden 41%), job creation (Trump 42%, Biden 41%), immigration (Biden 42%, Trump 40%) and national defense (Trump 41%, Biden 41%).
“In our June survey, Trump was ahead of Biden on job creation, the economy and national defense,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Now the numbers on these issues have tightened considerably, while Biden has also gained ground on energy and oil.”
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted on August 3 and August 4, 2020, among 1,018 likely voters in the United States and 946 decided voters in the 2020 presidential election. 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 for likely voters and +/- 3.2 percentage points for decided voters, 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