Donald Trump is carrying favor in six out of seven swing states, a Wall Street Journal poll, published on Tuesday, found.
The survey collected responses from 4800 voters from March 17-24. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for the full sample and 4 points for results in individual states.
Trump is leading in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina states by 2-8%, the poll found after looking at test ballots which listed independent candidates.
During the 2020 election, US President Joe Biden was reportedly held favorite in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin; which indicates a change in voter favorability in two swing states.
Despite Trump’s general lead, Wisconsin has broken the pattern - with Biden holding a 3% lead.
Additionally, while Biden is still holding the lead in Nevada, the margins are allegedly narrowing as Biden’s support there has decreased.
Thoughts of President Biden and Trump
The poll found that, in every state survey, negative views of the president’s job performance outweigh positive ones by at least 16%.
While negative views ring loudly across the states for Biden, the WSJ found that Trump’s negative reviews only outweighed positive ones in Arizona.
In Arizona, negative reviews only dominated positive ones by 1%, a minor percentage compared to Biden’s 16%+.
When survey participants were asked to choose which candidate has the better physical and mental fitness to handle the presidency, 48% said Trump and 28% answered Biden.
Biden’s support has also significantly dropped amongst Black, Hispanic and young voters, the poll found.
On specific issues, Trump is considered preferable by the majority of participants on issues relating to the economy, inflation and immigration. However, Biden was considered to be the preferable candidate on the issue of abortion, which the WSJ said was a deciding issue for many voters.
“Don’t look at these people as excited by third-party candidates.… They are saying, ‘I’m toying with some other options because I don’t like the options I’ve been given,’” said Michael Bocian, a Democratic pollster who conducted the survey.