A new poll finds that the race between President Biden and former President Trump is statistically deadlocked, two weeks after the first presidential debate.
investigationA survey conducted by Marist National Poll for NPR and PBS News found that the race remains close among registered voters, despite the confusion following Biden’s lackluster performance in the debates.
Fifty percent of voters said they would vote for Biden if the general election were held today, compared with 48% for Trump and 2% undecided.
NPR points out Biden actually improved by one point since last month’s survey.
Among voters who say they definitely plan to vote in the November election, Trump and Biden are tied at 45% each.
“Despite a series of political disasters, including Trump’s felony conviction and Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the race for the White House remains fundamentally unchanged,” Lee Miringoff, president of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement. “But Biden needs to regain the confidence of his party members that he can win.”
Biden’s support drops when third-party candidates are added. With third-party candidates in the mix, Trump’s approval rating comes out on top at 43% and Biden’s at 42%.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 8 percent, independent Cornell West received 3 percent, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 2 percent. If the question includes third-party candidates, 2 percent are undecided.
The figure is within the survey’s margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, meaning the actual results could be 3 points higher or lower than what is currently reflected.
As concerns over Biden’s political future continue, Democrats worry that his continued campaign could also hurt House and Senate elections.
A poll earlier this week showed Trump gaining support in key battleground states, changing the Michigan Senate race from a “Democrat advantage” to a “close race.”
Biden and his campaign have been in clean-up mode for the past two weeks, holding campaign events, giving interviews and holding his first solo news conference of the year on Thursday night as he tries to win back the support of Democrats concerned about his ability to continue leading the country.
The Marist poll was conducted July 9 and 10 among 1,309 adults and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
