A strong plurality of voters is opposed to 2020 candidates resuming live, in-person political events and campaign rallies, a new national poll found.
In the YouGov survey, conducted for The Economist, 48% of registered voters overall said candidates on the November ballot should refrain from holding in-person events or campaign rallies. Pluralities, and in some cases, majorities, of voters across over two dozen key demographics were among those opposed to a resumption of live campaigning, including 46% of independents, 52% of moderates, 67% of Democrats, 44% of seniors, 51% of women, and 57% of both blacks and Hispanics.
President Trump and Republicans generally have criticized Biden for holding few live campaign events and interacting with voters mostly through virtual events from his basement studio at his home in Delaware. With the coronavirus spreading again in some states, the findings in the YouGov poll suggest many voters aren’t looking for Biden to do it.
There were only three cohorts of voters that exhibited more support for returning to “regular” in-person campaigning than for holding off. They included voters who described themselves as Republicans (52%), conservatives (59%), and as those planning to support Trump this fall (64%).
Most campaigns shifted to a virtual footing in mid-March because of the health risks posed by the coronavirus. After the rate of COVID-19 infections began dropping, Trump and the Republican National Committee resumed in-person voter engagement. Last Saturday, Trump hosted his first campaign rally since March in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the YouGov poll, conducted between Sunday and Wednesday, 31% of voters said they are supportive of these activities, with 21% saying they are not sure.
The poll asked, “Do you think political candidates should or should not resume holding regular, in-person campaign events and rallies?”
The poll had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
