Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holds an 8-point lead over President Trump among registered voters and enjoys a significant lead among undecided voters, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
The Reuters-Ipsos poll found that 46 percent of registered voters said they would back Biden in the November election, while 38 percent said they would vote for Trump. The remaining 16 percent of registered voters surveyed said they were either undecided, planned to support a third-party candidate or may not vote.
The poll also found that Biden has a massive 22-point lead over Trump among undecided or third-party registered voters, with 61 percent saying they would support Biden and 39 percent saying they would support Trump if they had to choose.
The majority of undecided or third-party registered voters — 70 percent — said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance. That same percentage said they think the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 141,000 Americans and triggered mass unemployment and economic uncertainty, 80 percent said they were concerned about the spread of COVID-19.
When asked about the most important factor driving their decision to vote, 34 percent said they were looking for a candidate who has “a robust plan to help the nation recover,” according to the poll.
Polls from 2016 found that support among registered voters who had not backed a major party candidate was evenly split between Trump and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Reuters noted that Trump won a majority of voters who said they decided in the final week.
The July 15-21 poll was conducted online among 4,430 American adults, including 3,744 registered voters and 595 registered voters who had not supported a major-party candidate. It has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2 percentage points for the entire group and plus or minus 5 percentage points for the undecided or third-party voters.