For now at least, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are still the leading candidates for the November presidential election. While Trump has consistently led in many national polls, including key battleground states, this lead has vastly increased following Biden’s disastrous debate performance last Thursday.
A recent poll by The New York Times/Siena College found Trump with a 49-43 percent lead among likely voters and a 49-41 percent lead among registered voters. The poll also showed that among Independents, Trump leads by 47-37 percent among registered voters and 45-42 percent among likely voters.
Among registered Democratic voters, 48-47 percent are divided on whether Biden should remain the nominee. In contrast, among overall registered voters, just 31 percent think Biden should remain the nominee, while 60 percent believe there should be a different Democratic nominee.
The poll also revealed concerns among voters about Biden’s age and ability to do the job. Among registered voters, 74 percent agree that Biden is “too old to be an effective president,” and among those who watched or heard about the debate, 57 percent and 58 percent of registered voters and likely voters, respectively, believe Biden performed “not well at all.”
Trump, on the other hand, had a 51 percent net “well” rating among registered voters and a 52 percent net “well” rating among likely voters, with a small plurality of voters saying he did “somewhat well.”
The poll was conducted June 28-July 2 with 1,532 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points among registered voters and plus or minus 2.9 percentage points among likely voters.
