Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: General Election Tracker (10/21/2020)

Washington, DC,  October 21, 2020 –   In the latest Reuters/Ipsos Core Political survey, former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead President Donald Trump among likely voters in the race for the White House. Two in five Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president. A majority of people say the country is heading in the wrong direction. The economy, jobs, healthcare, and coronavirus remain the biggest problems facing the country, according to most Americans.

Likely voters continue to favor Biden (51%) when asked who they have already voted for or who they would support if they were voting today. Forty-two percent of likely voters back Trump.

• With nearly 40 million votes already cast and less than two weeks until Election Day, just three percent of likely voters say they are unsure of whom they support.

Forty-one percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing as president. Thirty-nine percent say they approve of how he has handled the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Both metrics have been consistent for several months.

• Republican registered voters continue to overwhelmingly support Trump, with 85% reporting they approve of his job performance; just eight percent of Democratic registered voters feel the same way.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the country is heading off on the wrong track, while just 25% feel things are going in the right direction.

• Nine in ten Democratic registered voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction (91%), while just 5% say things are going in the right direction.
• Republican registered voters are much more optimistic, with more than half saying the country is heading down the right path (56%).

For half of Americans, the economy and jobs (29%) and healthcare (22%) are the most important problems facing the country. About 16% continue to volunteer issues like coronavirus and the current administration as the main problems facing the United States.

• Thirty-four percent of Republican registered voters say that the economy and jobs are the biggest problems facing the country. Only 25% of Democratic registered voters feel the same way.
• Healthcare is the most important issue for Democratic registered voters (30%), while just 13% of Republican registered voters say the same thing.
• Democratic registered voters are twice as likely to volunteer other problems (22%) than Republican registered voters (10%).

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 16-20, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,346 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 1,158 registered voters, 522 Democratic registered voters, 479 Republican registered voters, 114 independent registered voters and 949 likely 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 intended 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 ± 3.0 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 ± 3.3 percentage points for all registered voters, ± 4.9 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 5.1 percentage points for Republican registered voters, ± 10.5 percentage points for independent registered voters, and ± 3.6 percentage points for likely voters. 

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior 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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