Reuters/Ipsos Core Political: Presidential Approval Tracker (06/17/2020)

Washington, DC, June 17, 2020 –  The most recent iteration of the Reuters/Ipsos Core Political survey finds that the gap has widened between former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump in the race for the presidency. President Trump’s approval rating is beginning to show a downward trend. The number of Americans who say the country is headed in the wrong direction is at the highest levels of Trump’s presidency. The economy and jobs are the most important issue for about a third of Americans.

The number of Americans who say the country is headed off on the wrong track is at 65%, in line with the highest numbers Reuters/Ipsos has seen during Trump’s presidency. The number was 65% in the beginning of June of this year and in mid-August 2017, just following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.

• Only 9% of Democratic registered voters and 18% of independent registered voters believe the country is headed in the right direction, while just fewer than half of Republican registered voters say the same thing (47%).

President Trump’s approval rating (38% among all Americans) is beginning to show a consistent downward trend since it reached its high point for the year in early April (45%).

• Four in five Republican registered voters (81%) approve of his handling of the presidency.
• Democratic registered voters (9%) and independent registered voters (29%) are much more critical of Trump’s job performance.

Former Vice President Joe Biden (48%) has a 13 point lead over President Donald Trump (35%) among registered voters when asked who they would support if the election were held today.

• Among Republican registered voters, Trump’s vote share continues to be high (80%), but it is down 4 points from two weeks ago, and down 7 points from when Reuters/Ipsos began tracking early this year before the coronavirus pandemic and the civil unrest of the last several weeks.
• Independent registered voters are nearly twice as likely to say they would vote for Biden (39%) compared to Trump (21%) if the election were held today.
• Four in five Democratic registered voters (84%) report they would vote for Biden if the election were held today.

The economy and jobs remain the top of mind issues for 29% of Americans.

• Similar to the first two weeks in June, the percentage of respondents who say “other” remains higher than average at 17%. When asked to specify, racism, police brutality, partisanship and the current administration are common themes being reported.
• Among Democratic registered voters, most say the economy and jobs (27%) are the most important issues, followed by healthcare (21%) and other issues (20%).
• Republican registered voters remain the most concerned with the economy and jobs (34%), followed distantly by other issues (13%), and morality (13%). Concerns with immigration have plummeted over the last year among Republican registered voters, with 9% reporting immigration as the most important issue, compared with 37% who said immigration this time last year (June 19, 2019 Reuters/Ipsos Core Political).

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between June 10-16, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 4,426 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 3,768 registered voters, 1,853 Democratic registered voters, 1,427 Republican registered voters and 362 independent registered voters. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results int ended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 1.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 1.8 percentage points for all registered voters, ± 2.6 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 3.0 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 5.9 percentage points for independent registered voters. 

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Kate Silverstein
Media Relations, US
Public Affairs
+1 718 755-8829
[email protected]

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