Poll: Independent voters move away from Biden

Former President Donald Trump holds a lead over President Joe Biden just a few months away from election day.

Emerson College Polling released the new poll, which reports Trump leads Biden 46% to 43% with 11% undecided.

When undecided voters were asked which candidate they lean toward, the poll evens up at 50-50 support. While the poll does even out, the number of voters unwilling to commit to Biden could suggest they are less enthusiastic and thus less willing to show up on election day.

According to the poll, 78% of Republicans “are extremely motivated, compared to 65% of Democrats and 63% of independents.”

The poll comes after what was widely considered a disastrous debate for the Biden campaign. During the debate, Biden trailed off, fumbled his words and became incoherent at times, sparking widespread dismay throughout the Democratic party and calls from some elected Democrats for the president to step aside for a new presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket.

So far, Biden has pushed back hard on the idea insisting that he will stay on the ballot and that he can beat Trump.

But since that debate, Trump, who already had a notable lead in most swing states, saw a bump in most polls.

The latest Emerson poll found Biden’s strength with Independents has waned in the last month.

“Since before the first presidential debate, former President Trump’s support remains at 46%, while President Biden’s support has decreased two percentage points,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement. “Notable shifts away from Biden occurred among independent voters, who break for Trump 42% to 38%; last month they broke for Biden 43% to 41%.”

Trump’s lead grows slightly when voters are given the chance to choose third party candidates, with 44% behind Trump, 40% supporting Biden, 6% for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Cornel West and Jill Stein both receiving about 1% support, according to the poll.

The poll also showed that Biden’s job approval rating is down two points from last month, with 56% of those surveyed saying foreign policy is worse than when Biden took office.

“Perception of the status of U.S. foreign policy varies by party: 48% of Democrats think foreign policy is better now than four years ago, 87% of Republicans think it is worse, while 54% of independents think it is worse,” Kimball said.