by Daniel Johnson
May 7, 2024
The poll carries an error percentage of 3% in either direction but revealed that while Trump has lost support among various demographics, Biden has gained support.
A poll of 1,000 potential voters indicates there are plenty of undecided voters in the upcoming presidential election. It also indicates that waning Black support for Biden, something that has been dogging him for most of the campaign cycle to this point, is improving.
As USA Today reported, the poll, jointly conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University, carries an error percentage of 3% in either direction but revealed that while Trump has lost support among various demographics, Biden has gained support. This has resulted in the two being virtually tied just four months away from the election, which David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, described as the doorstep of the election.
“When we think about the race tied with just 26 weeks to go, we have to consider that people tune out politics and the party conventions in July and August,” Paleologos told USA Today. “That leaves just 17 weeks for candidates to actively campaign, and it’s actually 13 or 14 weeks when you consider states where early voting starts weeks before Election Day. We’re basically at the doorstep of the election, and the outcome is a coin flip.”
Among those who indicated a preference for third-party candidates like Princeton professor Cornel West, who is running as an Independent, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voters are malleable; 80% of those supporting Kennedy, 88% of those supporting West, 56% of those supporting Stein, and 65% of respondents who planned to support the eventual Libertarian candidate indicated that they remain open to changing their vote. Third-party votes typically receive more attention in close contests, where their impact is most acutely felt.
Among young voters, The New York Times indicates that though they are more likely than others to support Palestine, most young voters cite other concerns. Devon Schwartz, a University of Texas at Austin student, told the outlet that their stances on Gaza are too similar to be of concern regarding his vote.
“When you have two presidents that have the same stance on one issue, that automatically puts that issue — I hate to say lower down the list, because it’s obviously an important issue, but it doesn’t make it an issue where I’m going to choose Donald Trump over Joe Biden.” Schwartz still plans on voting for Biden but notes that Biden needs to adjust his policies. “I want to see policy changes from Joe Biden,” he said. “I don’t want to vote for Donald Trump and then just see the same exact policies.”
Cameron Driggers, a 19-year-old University of Florida student and member of the youth council of Florida’s Democratic Party, told the outlet that although he recognizes that Trump is likely to be worse across the board than Biden, Driggers worries that Biden is close to crossing the hard lines of some.
“You hear from a lot of people who are just increasingly apathetic about voting for Joe Biden. He continues to basically spit in the face of youth organizers around the country,” he said. “He’s especially enraging the people who turn out votes. I do recognize that Trump is almost certainly going to be worse than Biden on all of these issues,” Driggers said. “But at a certain point, you know, there has to be a line” for Biden. “And I believe he’s close to crossing that.”
