President Donald Trump’s response to the George Floyd protests has given his presumed challenger former Vice President Joe Biden a leg up, according to a new poll.
A Monmouth University poll released Wednesday shows that voters trust Biden more than Trump in handling race relations. Voters also say they think Biden would do a better job addressing post-coronavirus pandemic recovery efforts than Trump.
Poll results indicate:
- 52% of registered voters polled say they back Biden for president.
- 41% of registered voters surveyed say they would reelect Trump.
- 33% of registered voters asked say race relations will be a major factor in their vote for president this year.
Overall, the poll gives Biden an 11-point lead over Trump, which is a 2-point increase from a Monmouth poll released in May.
Just over half of registered voters surveyed said they believe in Biden’s ability to manage race relations while only 40% have faith in Trump.
Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute Patrick Murray said voters are paying attention to how Trump handles the coronavirus outbreak and George Floyd protests.
Trump has come out with a "law and order" approach to quell violent protests that have been taking place nationwide. People are demonstrating against the death of a black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
“The race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well,” Murray said.
The poll was conducted May 28- June 1, with a majority of the polling done before Trump publicized his military response to the protests from the Rose Garden. It was also conducted before Biden's speech in Philadelphia, which slammed Trump's protest response.
Voters also aren’t fans of Trump’s coronavirus response. More registered voters say his response to the virus has made it less likely he will be reelected in November than those who felt that way in April, according to the poll.
The poll surveyed 742 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
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