Donald Trump would be on track to win a historic landslide in November — if so many US voters didn’t find him personally repugnant.

Roughly 53 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the former president. And yet, when asked about Trump’s ability to handle key issues — or the impact of his policies — voters routinely give the Republican candidate higher marks than President Biden.

In a YouGov survey released this month, Trump boasted an advantage over Biden on 10 of the 15 issues polled. On the three issues that voters routinely name as top priorities — the economy, immigration, and inflation — respondents said that Trump would do a better job by double-digit margins.

Meanwhile, in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 40 percent of voters said that Trump’s policies had helped them personally, while just 18 percent said the same of Biden. If Americans could elect a normal human being with Trump’s reputation for being “tough” on immigration and good at economics, they would almost certainly do so.

Biden is fortunate that voters do not have that option. But to erase Trump’s small but stubborn lead in the polls, the president needs to erode his GOP rival’s advantage on the issues.

  • mwguy
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    8 months ago

    The Siena poll found that “independents, especially women, are swinging to the G.O.P. despite Democrats’ focus on abortion rights. …The biggest shift came from women who identified as independent voters. In September, they favored Democrats by 14 points. Now, independent women backed Republicans by 18 points–a striking swing given the polarization of the American electorate and how intensely Democrats have focused on that group and on the threat Republicans pose to abortion rights.”

    This is the chunk you’re complaining about? They didn’t even refute the poll they just don’t like that data. And that’s after consistently complaining about polls that were marked as toss-ups.

    Like please respond to the first one. Because the polls got Oz vs. Fetterman largely correct and it’s the first example of a miss which should be the strongest one.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      No, it isn’t, and i responded to your first reply four days ago when you originally replied.

      If you are expecting every single pull to be inconsistent by the exact same amount, you’re going to be disappointed.

      Some polls are off by 1% some are off by 15% some are off by more.

      They’re not all from identical elections, and there’s not always an identical number of people voting or people being polled.

      Polls are consistently inaccurate,is the point here.

      • mwguy
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        8 months ago

        If a pill has a ± of 5-7 percent with 90% confidence. And you have ten polls, You would expect at least one to be off by more that 5-7%. What your describing is expected.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          Right, polls are consistently inaccurate and should not be counted on as foundational predictors of political conclusions.

          • mwguy
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            8 months ago

            If I tell you that a rocket is going to land withing a 20ft circle 90% of the time and land 9 rockets in the circle and 1 out of it; was I accurate or inaccurate in your mind?

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              Consistently inaccurate.

              At least 10 percent of the time the rocket will consistently land inaccurately.

              Further, if we more accurately pair your analogy with political polls determining an accurate election result, the rocket will consistently land inaccurately the other 90% of the time as well.

              • mwguy
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                8 months ago

                So you’re complaint is that people are telling you, “You have this percentage chance of this being reality” and then you’re mad that they’re unable to be more accurate? It’s polling it’s not fortune-telling.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  8 months ago

                  Where are you getting that I’m mad?

                  I’m not complaining.

                  People are drawing illogical conclusions from false premises.

                  I’m reminding people that drawing conclusions from flawed premises leads to flawed conclusions.

                  • mwguy
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                    8 months ago

                    My apologies I misread your tone.