Harvard CAPS-Harris Polling Director Mark Penn is stressing the importance of the coronavirus and the handling of the pandemic as the election approaches.
The latest Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll shows presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a 10-point lead as a result of voters seeing him as better capable of leading the country through the health crisis and the racially charged issues in the United States.
According to the poll, 55% of voters are in support of Biden while 45% support President Donald Trump. Across individual parties, Biden has 91% of Democratic voters’ support while Trump has 87% of Republicans’ support.
Independent voters appear to be favorable of Biden by a 56-44% margin. However, 38% of voters say they could side either way over the 100 days leading up to the general election.
Penn noted that the virus is one of the driving forces of the poll numbers. He also offered a colorful breakdown of what led to the poll findings.
“It’s the virus, stupid,” Penn said. “As the presidents’ ratings slipped on the virus, so did his electoral position. He lost 10 points over the last few months on his performance on handling the virus to only 41%.”
He continued, “The ratings on who would do a better job on the virus mirrors the vote precisely and the virus is the number one issue — all other issues pale in comparison right now and are all but irrelevant. The virus is what is pre-occupying the voters today.”
Penn’s remarks follow an array of responses from Trump who has long considered polls to be “fake.” During a Fox News interview with host Chris Wallace, Trump was confronted about the polls. However, the president dismissed the polls
“First of all, I’m not losing because those are fake polls,” he said. “They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake.”
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll online survey, conducted between July 21 and July 23, is based on the opinion of 1,932 registered voters. The full poll results will be released in the coming days.