Voters in key states likely to decide the election trust former President Trump more than President Biden to deal with threats to democracy, according to a poll. survey released Wednesday.
The poll, conducted by The Washington Post/Schar School, surveyed voters in six swing states and identified a subset of respondents labeled as “deciders”. It found that 38 percent of “decision makers” said Trump would do a better job of dealing with threats to US democracy, while 29 percent said Biden and 23 percent said nothing.
Approximately 60 percent of the group also said they were not at all satisfied with the way democracy was working in the United States.
Those labeled as “deciders” include respondents who voted in the 2016 or 2020 elections, are under the age of 25, have been registered to vote since 2022, are undecided and cannot vote, or someone who changed the party they support between 2016 and 2020.
Among all voters in swing states, 44 percent said they trust the presumptive Republican nominee more to protect democracy, while 33 percent said the incumbent. About 16% said they didn’t trust either and 7% said they trusted both equally, according to the survey.
Nearly three-quarters of “decision makers” said they believed Trump would not accept the election results if he lost in November, while 33% said the same of Biden. Nearly half of the subgroup said Trump would try to be a dictator if he won, and just 15% said Biden would do so.
The recent poll comes ahead of the first presidential debate of 2024, where Trump and Biden will face off for the first time since 2020, as the two prepare for an electoral rematch in November. The forum, hosted by CNN and moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will take place Thursday at 9pm EDT.
The Hill/Decision Desk HQ national polling average shows Trump leading with 45% support to Biden’s 43.8% support.
The poll interviewed 3,513 voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin between April 15 and May 30. The researchers identified 2,255 “decision makers” among those interviewed.
The margin of error for the “decision makers” was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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