Post-Conviction Gallup Poll Puts Trump’s Favorability Ahead of Biden’s on Eve of Debate
Most Americans think President Biden is too old.
Republicans are happy with their presidential nominee, President Trump, ahead of the debate, whereas Democrats would prefer someone else, according to a new survey.
A Gallup poll released Thursday suggests that 79 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of Democrats say they’re happy with their party’s nominee.
In 2020, 81 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of Democrats said they were pleased with their candidate, indicating that Republicans are just as pleased with Trump as they were in 2020 while Democrats have soured on the president.
Tied to this, most voters — 59 percent of them — are also very concerned about Mr. Biden’s age, whereas just 18 percent are very concerned about Trump’s age even though the two are only three years apart.
Another 17 percent said they were somewhat concerned about Mr. Biden’s age while 20 percent said that they were somewhat concerned about Trump’s age.
In terms of favorability, Trump’s favorability rating has ticked up to 46 percent while Mr. Biden’s slumped to 37 percent. The survey was conducted in the days following the conviction of Trump, which could have opened the door to expressive responses from Republicans, though it won’t be clear until more data is collected.
Expressive response is when respondents respond in a survey to identify themselves with an in group even if their response does not reflect a sincere belief.
In an instance of expressive response bias, Trump supporters were more likely to identify a photo of Trump’s inauguration as having more people in attendance than President Obama’s inauguration, even if the photo clearly showed more people at Mr. Obama’s event.
Attorney Robert Kennedy Jr., who is running for president as an independent, saw the largest drop off in favorability. Since December, Mr. Kennedy’s favorability has fallen 14 points to 38 percent, falling 26 points among Democrats, 13 points among independents, and seven points among Republicans.