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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    12 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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      12 months ago

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

      • @mwguy
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        12 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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          12 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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            12 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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              12 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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                12 months ago

                My apologies I misread your tone.