Over half Joe BidenDonald Trump supporters are primarily motivated to vote for the president in order to prevent Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to a new poll.
Opposition to Trump is the main reason to support Biden for 54% of Democratic incumbent voters, new CBS/YouGov poll foundup from 47% in a similar poll conducted in March, before the presumptive Republican nominee was found guilty of corporate fraud by a New York jury.
Another 27% of Biden voters support the president because they like him – down from 31% in March – while 19% say they support him because he is the Democratic presidential nominee.
The poll comes as Biden’s campaign has stepped up its rhetoric by directly attacking Trump in recent weeks, pointing to the former president’s felony conviction and a series of past controversies. Last week, Biden said his predecessor was “reckless and dangerous” for complaining that his trial in New York was rigged and claimed he had been “mad” after his defeat in the 2020 elections.
The outcome of this year’s presidential elections remains uncertain, with the new CBS poll concluding that Biden and Trump are essentially tied nationally and in decisive states. Trump has 50% support among likely voters, and Biden has 49%, with these numbers switched for likely voters in swing states.
Trump has enjoyed a lead over Biden in most polls in recent months, although there is some evidence of a slight shift toward the president following his predecessor’s felony conviction. Trump, who faces three other criminal trials for hoarding classified documents and trying to subvert the 2020 election, is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced in the New York case on July 11.
However, the CBS poll found that 55% of likely voters say Trump’s conviction is not a factor in their choice for president, with 28% saying it will be an important factor. Although Trump enjoyed a surge in fundraising from supporters after the trial, the poll found that only 14% of his voters support him because of his conviction, with the vast majority saying it is not a factor for them.
Eight in 10 Trump voters mistakenly believe the former president was charged due to the actions of the Biden administration rather than local prosecutors, the poll found.
Overall, the top motivating issues for voters are the state of the US economy, inflation, the health of democracy and crime, according to the poll.
