WSJ poll shows Trump is holding steady with Hispanic voters & swing voters

Mr. Trump lags behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 9 percentage points, this month’s Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found — allegedly.

The president’s share of support, now at 41%, hasn’t topped 44% this year against Mr. Biden.

Allegedly, he is struggling in the suburbs and rural areas. This is no different from 2016  when he trailed but won the Electoral College.

That is very hard to believe. Why would they want Joe Biden.

However, there are other good signs.

IMPROVED IMAGE AMONG WHITE VOTERS

Among white voters, Mr. Trump lags behind his 2016 vote share as recorded by exit polls. But in a sign of improvement, white voters in the most recent Journal/NBC News survey were divided almost equally between positive and negative views of the president.

HOLDING STEADY WITH HISPANICS

He is holding steady with Hispanics: Mr. Trump trails his 2016 support levels among many groups, polling finds. Among Hispanic voters, by contrast, he appears to have maintained or even improved his standing.

Some 31% of the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority group say they will back the president, a slightly higher share than the 28% who voted for him in 2016, according to exit polls.

REPUBLICAN INTEREST IN THE ELECTION IS UP

Interest in the election has risen among Republicans in the past month and now matches Democratic interest. Some 85% of Republicans rate themselves as highly interested in the election, compared with 83% of Democrats.

Some 27% of voters say they would be optimistic and confident if Mr. Trump were elected, compared with 14% who said so in 2016. By contrast, 19% of voters said before the Democratic convention that they would be optimistic about Mr. Biden’s election.

SWING VOTERS

Up-for-grabs voters lean Republican: The Journal/NBC News survey in July looked at voters who haven’t ruled out either candidate and are “in play” in November. These voters as a group have characteristics that suggest they are open to Mr. Trump and his party.

Some 22% have a positive image of Mr. Trump, while only 11% have a positive image of Mr. Biden, the July poll found.

These voters account for 13% of the electorate, the survey found, meaning that Mr. Trump would need to win a large majority if he was relying on them to close his gap with Mr. Biden.

TRUMP IS LEADING IN THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT

Trump leads in the economic argument: Polls have consistently turned up voters who say Mr. Trump has done a good job handling the economy but won’t commit to re-electing him. In August, 48% said he was the candidate best able to deal with the economy, 10 percentage points more than said so of Mr. Biden, and yet more people said they would vote for the Democrat.

MANAGEMENT IS SOMETHING ELSE

The Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling also shows dissatisfaction with Mr. Trump’s management, including the fact that more than half of Americans disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters dislike both parties: In 2016, the Democratic Party had a substantially stronger public image than did the Republican Party. While both were viewed in a negative light, negative views of the Democratic Party outweighed positive ones by 4 percentage points, whereas the GOP was underwater by 21 points.

Democrats running 8 points ahead of positive views, compared with 11 points for the GOP.

How in the world do people prefer these screaming, lying far-left Democrats? There was no link to the data for us to see how many Republicans were polled.

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