Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Presidential Approval Tracker (08/26/2020)

Washington, DC, August 26, 2020 –   With the Democratic National Convention over, and the Republican National Convention underway, this week’s Reuters/Ipsos Core Political survey shows that a majority of registered voters believe the country is headed on the wrong path. Americans are split on the most important issues facing the country, but the economy, jobs, healthcare, and other issues remain top of mind. Amid the convention, President Donald Trump’s approval rating is steady. If the election were held today, former Vice President Joe Biden receives a larger share of votes than President Trump among registered voters.

Two-thirds of registered voters (65%) say the country is off on the wrong track, just 26% say the country is headed in the right direction.

• Republican registered voters’ perceptions are unchanged from last week: 50% say the country is headed in the right direction.
• About nine in ten Democratic registered voters say the country is headed in the wrong direction (88%), statistically unchanged from last week (89%).

About one in three Americans say the economy and jobs are the most important issues facing the country (30%). Healthcare is top of mind for 17% of Americans, and other issues, like coronavirus, partisanship, and racism are top of mind for 16% of Americans.

• Democratic registered voters are split between the economy and jobs (27%) and healthcare (25%) as the most important issues. Twenty-one percent also volunteer issues like the coronavirus, the Trump administration, and racism as major problems the country faces.
• Republican registered voters remain focused on the economy and jobs (33%). About 14% say they are concerned with issues like coronavirus, Democratic politicians and platforms, and crime as a result of protests. About 12% are focused on healthcare.

Forty-one percent of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president.

• A strong majority of Republican registered voters approve of the president (83% approve).
• Democratic registered voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president (90% disapprove).
• A majority of independent registered voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance (59%), and about one third approve (34%).

If the election for president were held today, 47% of registered voters say they would vote for Biden, while 40% say they would vote for Trump.

• About a quarter of independent registered voters (25%) say they would vote for Trump, 38% say they would vote for Biden, 13% would vote for a third-party candidate, 16% are unsure and 8% say they would not vote.
• Both Trump and Biden receive strong support from their respective parties: 82% of Republican registered voters say they will vote for Trump, while 86% of Democratic registered voters say they will vote for Biden.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 19-25, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 4,428 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 3,829 registered voters, 1,726 Democratic registered voters, 1,626 Republican registered voters, and 344 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 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 ± 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, ± 2.7 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 2.8 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 6.0 percentage points for independent registered 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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