Biden cuts into Trump's core support base of older white men amid pandemic and anti-racist protests: Survey
President Donald Trump and his supporters would be left a worried lot by a New York Times-Siena College poll, which has shown presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has taken a 14-point lead over the incumbent with a little more than four months to go for the general election.
According to the poll released on Wednesday, June 24, the former Vice-President has not only influenced women and non-white voters more than Trump but also cut into the Republican’s base -- the older white men. One of the main reasons for this setback is the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has only gone through the roof in the country, affecting more than 2.3 million people and claiming nearly 122,000 lives.
Pandemic and protests
While it has been perceived that Trump’s supporters backed his call for a quick reopening of the country to allow the cornered economy claw back to normalcy, the poll found that a majority of Americans were opposed to the idea and would have preferred the administration focusing on controlling the pandemic situation.
Another reason why Trump has been facing a less favorable pre-poll situation is his response to the ongoing protests against racial injustice. Though the commander-in-chief has tried to show a sympathetic face towards the black Americans who have recently been killed by white people, more than 60 percent of those covered by the survey disagreed with Trump’s overall handling of race and his response to the protests against George Floyd’s brutal death at the hands of the police in Minneapolis in May.
The poll also showed that a majority of Americans, including more than half of those who are seen as somewhat conservative, have a favorable take on Black Lives Matter, which reflects a changing social scenario in the US in terms of race and racism.
According to one report in The New York Times published this week, even Trump’s advisers are appealing to him to project a more unifying message in the wake of the protests. They have advised the president that only the support of his hardcore fans cannot help him win the reelection battle in November.
Findings of the poll
To breakdown the findings of the survey that was carried out between June 17 and 22 and covered more than 1,300 respondents, 50 percent wanted to vote for Biden while 36 percent backed Trump. Fourteen percent wanted to vote for some other candidate, would not vote or did not know.
Among the women voters, Biden was ahead by 22 points while it was three percent in case of men. In the age category, those between 18 and 49, Biden has a substantial lead over Trump. The president has a slender lead of one percent among people of the age group of 50 and 64 while for 65-above, Biden wrested back the lead and was ahead by two percent.
Trump was leading by 19 percent among whites who had no college education and by 85 points among the Republicans (Biden was leading by same margin in the Democratic camp). Trump led Biden by 73 percent among very conervative voters while the latter led by 83 percent among very liberals. The former VP is also leading Trump by 28 points among the college-educated whites, the poll said.