A majority of voters who plan to support presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November are doing so because “he is not” President Trump, according to a new poll of registered voters.
In a Pew Poll conducted prior to Biden selecting Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, 56% of voters who back the former vice president over Trump said they did so because he is not the Republican incumbent. Just 19% support Biden because of his “leadership/performance,” and only 13% plan to vote for him because of his “personality/temperament.” Just 9% said they like Biden most because of his position on the issues.
Comparatively, 19% of Trump supporters cited “he is not Biden” as their main reason for backing the president. Meanwhile, 23% credited the incumbent’s leadership and performance for their decision to back his reelection, and 21% said they would vote for him because of his personality and temperament. An additional 17% of Trump voters said they support him because “he is for American people and values.”
Voters offered their assessments of the two presidential candidates after Pew asked poll respondents open-ended questions about why they were supporting either Trump or Biden. The response indicates that Trump voters might be more enthusiastic about their candidate than Biden voters, a potential advantage for the president. But some Republicans worry it might not matter, given how motivated Biden voters are to oust Trump.
The Pew survey found Biden, plus voters leaning toward Biden, leading Trump, plus voters leaning toward Trump, by a healthy 53% to 45%.
The survey, conducted July 27 through Aug. 2 and made public on Thursday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
