WASHINGTON, D.C. – We are roughly six months away from the Presidential election. A recent poll from The New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer shows voters are more likely to vote for former President Donald Trump against President Joe Biden in several key states. Trump was favored in: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. One key state, Wisconsin, shows Biden has a small lead.
“These findings correspond to a lot of what we’ve seen,” said Dr. Todd Belt, George Washington University professor and director of political management. “The President has been down in these battleground states since this past year and it still continues to be an issue for him.”
Belt said these key states are really important for this election.
“The sunbelt states Arizona, Nevada and Georgia are ones that are going to be really difficult for Joe Biden,” said Dr. Belt. “The ones that might be the exception is possibly Arizona which could be helpful but it’s the rust belt states that are key for Joe Biden. He has brought back this blue firewall they’ve had up there with Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Of course, the President is from Pennsylvania, he wants to win it back. With those two states its possible for Joe Biden to eke out 270 electoral votes but he’s really gotta make sure he gets those.”
Belt said the economy remains a top issue for the election. He also believes Republicans will talk about crime and immigration while Democrats will talk about abortion and threats to democracy as some of the issues the parties will push.
“We’re still a long way to the end of this and we have along way in between,” said Dr. Belt.
Even though this survey is favoring Trump, people were also asked if the elections for US Senate were held today would they vote for a Democrat or Republican? Those surveyed in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona favored the Democrats by just a few points.
