More voters say that good policies trump bad character than the other way round, according to a new poll just days before the 2020 election.
In a Washington Examiner/YouGov poll, 46% said they would support a candidate of bad character whose policies they agreed with, compared to 33% who would prefer a candidate of good character even if they disagreed with his or her policies.
This tendency is especially pronounced among Republicans. Seventy-three percent said they would pick the candidate whose policies they agreed with even if the candidate had bad character. Thirteen percent said the opposite. Another 14% said they didn’t know.
By contrast, 48% of Democrats said they would back a candidate they disagreed with on policy grounds if the candidate had good character. Only 26% said the opposite, and another 26% said they didn’t know.
Independents were split, with a 47% plurality choosing policies, while 34% said good character was more important. Nineteen percent responded that they did not know.
The responses are likely a reflection of President Trump, whose tweets and temperament have turned off many voters even as he remains overwhelmingly popular with Republicans in part due to his conservative policies. The most liberal Democrats, including Bernie Sanders supporters, often say they are backing former Vice President Joe Biden despite policy disagreements because they think his character is superior to Trump’s. Character was a major point of emphasis at the Democratic National Convention.
A Biden campaign ad released at the beginning of the year opened with a shot of the White House as the narrator said, “It’s said in here your character is revealed. We saw it with President Obama. We’re seeing it with President Trump.” The spot went on to show Scranton, Pennsylvania, pictures representing Biden’s family tragedies and images of the Democratic nominee championing liberal causes. “Character matters,” the ad concluded, panning back to the Oval Office. “Maybe more here than anywhere.”
“Our character is on the ballot,” Biden said at the final presidential debate against Trump. He repeated that theme in his closing statement: “What is on the ballot here is the character of this country. Decency. Honor. Respect. Treating people with dignity. Making sure that everyone has an even chance.”
This flips the script from the 1990s, when Republicans emphasized the importance of personal character in their opposition to President Bill Clinton, who was unfaithful in his marriage, while Democrats defended his policies, especially on the economy. Some of the voting blocs most concerned about Clinton’s ethics and morality overwhelmingly back Trump, who won 81% of the white evangelical vote in 2016. “Trump’s character clashes with evangelical ethics in ways that would have killed Clinton’s political career two decades ago,” wrote the Atlantic’s Jonathan Merritt that year.
Both Clinton and Trump were impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate. Trump defeated the 42nd president’s wife Hillary to make it to the White House.
Republicans have been trying in recent weeks to close the gap on the character issue as they raise questions about the overseas business dealings of Hunter Biden, the Democratic nominee’s son. A Washington Examiner/YouGov poll found that a plurality believes the younger Biden has engaged in practices that are corrupt, though most Democrats disagree.
Trump has also emphasized his support for religious liberty and socially conservative policies in appealing to voters. He has nominated conservative judges and became the first sitting president to speak in person to anti-abortion rallies such as the March for Life. Earlier this year, the president said Biden was “against God” and predicted the Democratic nominee would “hurt the Bible” if elected.
The Washington Examiner/YouGov poll interviewed 1,194 registered voters Oct. 26-27 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 points.
