America's Talking - Poll: Trump Performs Better Than Biden on Top Issues for Voters

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

Voters trust former President Donald Trump more than President Joe Biden on the economy, immigration, national security, foreign affairs and crime. Biden, however, is more trusted on health care, climate change, education and abortion. Those findings come from The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights.  Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, vice president of news and content at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire service. Joining me again today, as he does each and every week, is Casey Harper, the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief. Casey, as we've talked about sometimes, or in the past, about the Center Square Polling Service, the Center Square Border's Voice poll. We conducted a second one recently. It's one among the most comprehensive polls in the country, more than 2,500 likely voters surveyed on their feelings on many issues facing the country right now. You wrote a few stories in the past week or so about that poll. One was a one-on-one comparison

between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who are the front owners right now in their respective party. Of course, Of course, Biden doesn't really have much of a challenger, although there are questions about whether he will run as we get closer to the November election. Comparing the two candidates on how Americans feel they would perform on a variety of different issues, as can be expected, Biden is the favorite candidate on some issues. Trump is the favorite candidate on other issues. Why don't you break that down for us, Casey? Yeah, I mean, so if you follow elections, you'll know. that so much of the strategy in an election in a race is making the election about the issues,

which you are most competent in. And so, you know, elections aren't just always about the candidates. They can be about certain issues. For example, in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned, that election was about abortion. It wasn't, it was, of course, somewhat about the candidates, but it was a referendum for in the minds of some voters on the abortion issue. You know, of course, when Trump was in office, the election was about a referendum. on Trump and there's different things. You could say this next election might be about the overseas conflicts. It might be about the economy, which is still struggling. If you're trying to get a mortgage right now, you know that. If you're going to the grocery store, you know that. And so the campaign

polls, you know, campaign workers, guys who advise and consults on this, they want to make the campaign about the issues that their candidates best at. And so it's really important to know in the minds of voters, which issues, you know, is Biden considered the best at and Trump the best at? And that's what our poll looked at. I think you're right. This is a really good poll. It was very thorough. It's very thorough. It makes sure that the people who say their independence are truly independence. It's called true independence, which is where we ask them to make sure that they don't have a leaning to Democrat or Republican, even when they say they're independent, because some people are part of a party, but they just don't want to admit it and they think it's cooler to say they're independent

when really they always vote Democrat or they always vote Republican, right? So those people are kind of weeded out in the survey. So they're true independence, which is worth noting. So let's go through some of these issues. The economy, jobs, this has got to be top, top of mind for a lot of people. And it found that voters think Trump is definitely better than Biden on this. Fifty-four percent picked Trump compared to 37 percent for Biden, which is pretty widespread on a key issue. Same is true for immigration. That's not too surprising. That's kind of been Trump's hallmark issue. But it is a big issue. We've talked in this podcast many times about about 10 million illegal immigrants coming into the country since Biden took office. A lot of, a lot of, you know, financial concerns

for local governments, a lot of, you know, safety concerns about that, some even terrorism concerns. And so Trump beats Biden 53% to 36% on immigration, and then 51% to 39% on national security. So those are, you know, I think three issues in voters minds where Trump really does take the cake and has a pretty widespread on the current president. And looking further down the line in this specific poll question, Casey, crime is another one where Trump is considered the better candidate. Of course, crime has been a big issue, particularly since the pandemic in major cities and with progressive prosecutors across the country. You fled Chicago for Texas. The crime is so bad in Chicago.

I am in Texas right now. Did not flee suburban Chicago just yet. but we are looking at that. So, American voters think Trump would do better with crime than Biden has. And foreign affairs, diplomacy, et cetera, with the ongoing, you know, crisis in the Middle East, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 48% of Americans say Trump would do better on foreign affairs than to Biden's 41%.

But when you get to some of these other issues, as you mentioned, abortion being one, Biden does better than Trump, 46% to 308% on health care. Biden does better than Trump, 46% to 40%. Race relations, Biden, 46% to Trump's 38%. And climate change, Biden is 49% to Trump's 36%. So Biden certainly best Trump on some of these issues. Trump best Biden on many of these issues. but the economic ones and the national security ones, which seem to be top of mind nowadays,

Trump does do better than Biden when it comes to how voters feel they'll do. Right. And of course, we are a year out, and it's worth noting that Biden does perform overall better than Trump, probably 48% to 44%. So a beat a year out is a little hard to forecast, but I think this is something for the Trump campaign to be excited about, which is the issues where Trump is seen most favorably are very likely going to be the top issues for the next year. Of course, Biden does outperform on climate change and education. Those are issues that Democrats typically do outperform Republicans on. But I don't see those being the main issues in this election because I don't think this Israel Hamas war,

I don't think that issue is going away. I mean, I think it's possible, but it's very feasible that a year from now we're still talking about the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And I've seen some of Trump's campaign ads and his basic art. argument is, hey, we didn't have any foreign wars like this when I was president. Everything was calm. You know, Trump is the strength guy. That is his thing. I am strong. I don't let anybody push us around. It's America first. He keeps saying, if anyone spills a drop of American blood, we're going to spill a gallon of yours. And I think that message could be really compelling. If these wars have drug out for another year and maybe even, you know, there's talks of America

happen to get involved. In the position on these wars, foreign policy is going to have an outsized influence on this election. You know, usually American voters care a lot more about domestic policy, but this election could be different for that. And so Trump projecting strength on that. Of course, the immigration crisis is affecting places it doesn't normally. Like New York City, Mayor Eric Adams is talking about having to cut the budget because they're

taking care of so many illegal immigrants. So this is reaching that immigration issues, touching other parts of the country that it's not used to that could help Trump out. And then the crime, I think crime is, you know, at least where I'm in. DC. I don't know about you in Chicago, Dan, but crime is definitely a lot worse in D.C. And people are very concerned about it. Yeah. So. Yeah, huge, huge issue. And what complicates the things in this primary season, Casey, as we've talked about before, of course, is, you know, Trump, by far the frontrunner in the GOP primary, faces almost a hundred different charges

on four separate indictments. Could be going to trial before the election. There's battles now about when these trials are going to happen. And then on the other side is Biden's age. in his mental capacity. Every time he makes a public appearance, public statement nowadays, it seems there's huge gaffes. There are plenty of Democrats are questioning whether Biden should serve another four years in office. He'll be well into his 80s at the end of a second term, and he's already showing signs of faltering on certain issues.

Casey, as usual, I appreciate your insights on these very important issues. listeners can read all of the Center Square Voters' Voice poll stories and see the data at the CenterSquare.com, but we are out of time for Casey Harper. I'm Dan McHalev. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe.