Joe Biden Has 52 Percent Support from 2016 Non Voters, New Poll Says
But will they come out to vote this time around?
Amid Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s announcement of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate, a new poll reveals Biden has 52 percent of support from voters who abstained from casting a ballot in 2016.
Biden holds a 20-point lead over President Donald Trump for nonvoters from 2016, according to preliminary data of a USC Dornsife poll released Thursday -- with Trump holding 32 percent of support and an additional 16 percent saying they’ll back another candidate in November.
The former vice president also grabbed an 11-point polling advantage among voters who supported a third-party candidate in the 2016 election, as 41 percent saying they’ll vote for Biden, 30 percent are behind Trump and an additional 28 percent claiming they’ll vote for another candidate.
Although Biden may have an advantage in the poll, there is a large chunk of participants who aren’t satisfied with either candidate. If Biden or Trump can persuade third-party voters to back their campaign come November, those decisions will likely dictate the outcome of the election.
Among participants who voted for Trump in 2016, 88 percent say they’ll vote for him again, with nine percent flipping to support Biden. An additional four percent of 2016 Trump voters say they’ll support another candidate.
The preliminary data also indicated that 92 percent of former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s voters will now support Biden in the November election, with four percent saying they’ve crossed the aisle to Trump and an additional four percent committing to another candidate.
Clinton advocated for a Biden presidency at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, urging Democrats to vote. The former secretary of state failed to attract a large swarm of voters -- particularly among black Americans -- which likely cost her the election.
According to the early results of the data, Biden holds an overall 11-point lead over Trump in the national popular vote.
As of Thursday, Biden holds a 7.6 percent lead over the president, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Complete results for the poll won’t be released until late August. It surveyed roughly 1,500 respondents who participated between Aug. 11-16 with a margin of error of plus of minus 3 percentage points.
Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.