Internal Republican polling reportedly shows Donald Trump’s support “collapsing” across the country, putting Joe Biden within striking distance of winning states once considered to be GOP strongholds.
As the Kansas City Star reported, Trump won both Kansas and Missouri handily in the 2016 election but could be in danger of losing both states according to new internal polling. Citing the New York Times , the report noted that he has alienated women, seniors, and suburban voters and is “repelling independents to the point where Mr. Biden has drawn closer in solidly red states.” The report added that the race could also be close in Montana.
Others have also pointed to Trump’s weaknesses among voter groups that he performed strongly with in 2016, including women voters. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote that his standing among women has dropped sharply, going “from terrible to horrendous.” That is reportedly starting to have a down-ballot effect, leading to competitive races in places once thought to be a safe win for Republicans.
The election forecast from election analysis site FiveThirtyEight showed on Saturday afternoon that Biden was favored to win the presidency and that his standing had been steadily improving since the first presidential debate. The analysis noted that the president’s battle with COVID-19 could also be hurting his standing.
“We’ve started to get polls on what the public thinks of Trump’s diagnosis, and so far Americans, including some Republicans, say Trump didn’t take enough precautions,” the site wrote. “There are also signs that the episode may be hurting Trump’s reelection chances. Now, not every pollster has shown an uptick for Biden since we learned about Trump’s diagnosis last Friday, but Biden still got some of his best polls this week.”
Trump has faced criticism for what many have seen as a failure to properly address the pandemic, and for not taking personal precautions like wearing a mask or halting large, in-person campaign events. Several recent COVID-19 cases among White House officials and Republican insiders have been traced back to a reception held in honor of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in which there was no social distancing and many people did not wear masks.
While this internal polling points to potential disaster for Trump and his party, others have warned that the race may be closer than the polls suggests. As The Inquisitr reported, Democratic pollster John Zogby warned that the race is actually much closer than it seems and that recent surveys showing Biden with a double-digit lead may be oversampling left-leaning voters.