"'I Hate Trump, I'll Vote for Biden' Poll Shows Neck-and-Neck Race... Third Candidate Emerges"

Trump 51% - Biden 49%... Within Margin of Error
50% of Biden Supporters Say "Oppose Trump"
Disappointed Voters in Return Match Look to Kennedy and Others

U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are engaged in an ultra-close race within about 2% in a hypothetical one-on-one matchup. Notably, half of Biden’s supporters indicate that they would vote not so much because they support President Biden, but because they oppose former President Trump, making it difficult to predict the actual voting outcome.

Some say the 'rematch' between the two candidates is becoming tiresome, and as more voters support third-party candidates, the U.S. presidential election less than a year away is expected to unfold in an unpredictable manner.

President Joe Biden of the United States

On the 15th (local time), major foreign media outlets reported that a poll conducted by Ipsos from the 13th to 14th surveyed 1,006 adults nationwide, asking who they would vote for if the election were a one-on-one contest. The results showed 49% chose President Biden, while 51% chose former President Trump, a 2 percentage point gap.

This is a narrower gap compared to a CNN survey conducted by polling firm SSRS from the 27th of last month to the 2nd of this month, which showed a 4 percentage point difference (Biden 45%, Trump 49%). Although the support gap has decreased, it remains within the margin of error of 3.8 percentage points, and Trump still leads Biden, so President Biden cannot be complacent.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump
[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

Looking at the characteristics of respondents who said they would vote for President Biden, 50% said their decision was based on opposition to former President Trump and his policies. Only 38% said they would vote for Biden because they support him and his policies. This means that the vote for Biden is more about preventing Trump’s re-election than genuine support for Biden.

Biden’s approval rating has remained around 40% for over a year. The high inflation and poor economic conditions, along with the fact that he is the oldest president in U.S. history, contribute to voters’ concerns about his re-election prospects.

Support for former President Trump is relatively solid. Among those who said they would vote for Trump, 42% said they support him, his policies, and the Republican Party, which is higher than the 40% who said they oppose Biden. Among leading Republican presidential candidates, Trump still holds the top spot in approval ratings.

Robert Kennedy Jr. [Photo by AP Yonhap News]

However, recently, there has been a significant increase in voters feeling fatigued by the possibility of a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. As a result, candidates running as independents or third-party candidates are gaining attention. A prominent figure is Robert Kennedy Jr., who left the Democratic Party a month ago and is running as an independent. A lawyer and environmental activist, he is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.

In the poll, when asked who they would vote for in a hypothetical three-way race including him, 32% chose former President Trump, 30% chose President Biden, and 20% chose attorney Kennedy Jr., showing that the support was fairly distributed among the former and current presidents and the independent candidate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.