Former President Donald Trump has a clear lead over President Biden in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state where the incumbent president was born and lived intermittently during his childhood, according to a new poll.
Among registered voters in the Keystone State, Trump has a 47% approval rating to Biden’s 43%, with the remaining 10% undecided. Emerson College Polling Center/The Hill Found in research.
Taking into account the so-called “lean” of undecided voters, the 77-year-old Republican led the 81-year-old Democrat 52% to 48%.
“There are different motivations between Biden and Trump voters,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.
“Those who voted for Trump said they supported the former president because they care about certain issues (28%), liked Trump (27%), or disliked Biden (21%). The majority of those who voted (33%) support the president because they dislike Trump,” and 24% support Biden because they like him as a candidate. ”
In Pennsylvania, Biden’s job approval rating has slumped by 17 points, with 38% approving of his job and 55% approving.
By contrast, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has a net favorability rating of +16, with 47% approving of his job and 31% disapproving.
Voters favored Trump over Biden to handle issues of immigration and border security (54% to 46%) and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war (52% to 48%). By contrast, Pennsylvania favored Biden over Trump on the issue of abortion by 14 points (57% to 43%).
Only 58% of voters doubted they would vote for Biden because of his age, while 55% shared similar concerns about Trump’s legal issues. More than three-fifths (61%) of independents said both issues made them question whether they would support either candidate.
The 45th president enjoys a narrow 0.6 percentage point lead over his successor in best performance. Recent RealClearPolitics averages Pennsylvania poll results.
Earlier this week, Biden and Trump were expected to win the delegates needed to win their respective parties’ nominations.
Pennsylvania received 19 electoral votes and is considered one of the key battleground states in this year’s election.
In 2016, voters in the federal state supported Mr. Trump for the first time since the state became Republican in 1988. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 1.2 percentage points.
Also in Pennsylvania, the Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and Republican businessman Dave McCormick is attracting attention.
Mr. Casey, 63, who has served in the Senate since 2007, leads Mr. McCormick 45% to 41%, with 14% of voters undecided.
When undecided listeners were asked to choose a candidate, Casey led 52% to 48%.
The race has intensified since February, when Casey led McCormick 49% to 39%, with 13% undecided, according to the Emerson and Hill poll.
McCormick, 58, lost the 2022 Republican Senate nomination to celebrity heart surgeon and television host Dr. Mehmet Oz, and lost the general election to Democrat John Fetterman.
The poll was conducted March 10-13 among 1,000 registered Pennsylvania voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
