U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, are tied in the race to win November’s presidential election, a sign that the race remains fierce even after a debate marred by a poor showing by the Democratic candidate for re-election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Biden and Trump each had 40% support among registered voters in the two-day poll that ended Tuesday. An earlier poll, conducted June 11-12, had shown Trump with a 2-point lead, 41% to 39%.
The two faced off in a televised debate last Thursday, in which Biden stuttered several times and failed to counter Trump’s attacks. The new Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that, after the debate, about one in three Democrats believe Biden should drop out of the race, something he has ruled out doing.
The poll, which collected online and nationwide responses from 1,070 U.S. adults, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points among registered voters, many of whom remain undecided about four months before Nov. 5.
About 20 percent of registered voters said they were unsure who to vote for, would choose a different candidate, or would not vote at all.
The poll did not include a question about support for independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. The June poll found that 10 percent of registered voters would support him if he appeared on the ballot.
While national polls provide important signals about Americans’ support for candidates, only a few states typically tip the scales in the Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins the U.S. presidential election.
Both candidates have significant issues. For Biden, that includes concerns about his age — 81 — that were amplified by his debate performance.
The poll found that 83 percent of Democrats and 97 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement that “Biden stumbled and seemed to be showing his age” in the debate. Only 58 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of Republicans gave the same assessment of Trump’s debate performance.
Trump, 78, in May became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, both while in office and after leaving the White House. He is expected to be sentenced in September and could face prison time after a jury found him guilty of 34 charges stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Source: Terra
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