A new swing state poll released Wednesday shows that more of the country’s most influential voters trust former President Donald Trump to deal with threats to democracy than President Joe Biden.
From a survey prepared by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason UniversityAccording to 38 percent of so-called ‘decision makers’ in six swing states, Trump is a better steward of democracy.
That’s compared to 29 percent of “decision makers” who say the same about Biden, who has centered his campaign around characterizing Trump as an authoritarian threat.
Pollsters interviewed voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin – six states where Biden beat Trump in 2020 – and then identified which demographic groups were most likely to determine the outcome in 2024.
“Decision makers” – those likely to influence the election – were determined by whether they fit into one or more of these key groups: 18- to 25-year-olds, those who voted in only one of the past two presidential elections, those who switched their votes between 2016 and 2020 and those who did not definitively intend to vote for Trump or Biden.
President Joe Biden has based his re-election bid on hopes that voters will see former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy after January 6 and pledge to be a ‘dictator’ on day one
However, that message doesn’t seem to be working with “decision makers” — those most likely to influence the outcome of the election — as 38 percent versus 29 percent see Trump as the candidate who could better handle threats to democracy.
When the entire population surveyed was asked the democracy question, an even larger group (44 percent) said Trump would do a better job in dealing with threats to democracy.
“Many Americans do not recognize Biden’s guardianship of our democracy, which is a bad sign for his campaign,” Justin Gest, a professor of policy and governance at George Mason University, told The Washington Post.
Biden has based his re-election chances on hopes that voters will see Trump’s threat to democracy rather than concerns about inflation and immigration — two key issues the Republican has used against Biden.
The current president has pointed to January 6 and Trump’s threat to be a “dictator” on day one if he is successful in November.
Trump has pushed back by citing his 88 criminal charges, accusing Biden and Democrats of weaponizing the Justice Department against the former president.
That same Justice Department has charged Biden’s son Hunter with weapons crimes — and he was convicted of two felonies in Delaware earlier this month.
The first of two scheduled debates will take place Thursday night at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of corporate fraud in New York in connection with hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 Election Day.
Biden has also pointed to comments Trump has made about getting “retribution” on his political enemies by prosecuting them with the help of the DOJ – which is supposed to work independently of the White House.
In total, the poll surveyed 3,513 registered voters in the six key states – and identified 2,255 as ‘decision makers’.
The survey was conducted from mid-April to the end of May.
While a majority of ‘decision makers’ – 56 percent – consider democracy to be an extremely important issue in the elections, there is a larger group of Trump and Biden voters who think so.
Among Biden voters, 78 percent said they thought democracy was an extremely important issue, while 71 percent of Trump voters agreed.
That means Biden’s message about saving democracy may not be powerful enough for the group of voters he needs to rally to his side.
Biden and Trump will face off for the first time Thursday evening on the debate stage at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.