By Ben Kamisar — NBCNews
Voters continue to consider President Joe Biden’s age and former President Donald Trump’s legal problems as the strongest reasons not to elect them in November, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
Participants in the survey, conducted between April 12 and 16, were asked about three possible weaknesses of each candidate facing the elections.
In Biden’s case, the idea that “he might not have the smental and physical avalanche necessary to be president for a second term” was the most compelling reason among 23% of registered voters.
Another 17% indicated that their main complaint about the president was that “millions of immigrants have illegally crossed” the border. border south during his presidency, and 16% opted for the inflation, which has reached “its highest level in 40 years, making it difficult for net pay to catch up with rising prices.” Another 15% said “all of these” were their most compelling reasons.
In Trump’s case, 20% of registered voters said the most compelling reason for not electing him was that he “faces four different criminal and civil lawsuits for alleged irregularities, including multiple felony charges related to attempts to annul the 2020 elections.”
Another 14% indicated that Trump “takes credit for his Supreme Court nominees eliminating the right to abortion,” and 8% said he “wants to pardon those convicted of storming the Capitol.”
Democrats, more open to criticizing their candidate
But there was a significant difference among respondents who cited neither of those reasons as the most compelling: In Trump’s case, 40% of registered voters chose that option, while 28% did so for Biden.
A closer look at the numbers suggests this is because Republicans are less willing to acknowledge any of Trump’s vulnerabilities than Democrats are Biden’seven when the latter are almost unanimously preparing to vote for the president in November.
72% of Republicans chose the “none” option for Trump’s possible vulnerabilities, compared to 34% of independents and 8% of Democrats.
By comparison, 54% of Democrats marked “none” of Biden’s potential vulnerabilities, compared to 21% of independents and 4% of Republicans.
Put another way, only 25% of Republicans commented that there was a compelling reason to consider voting against Trump, compared to 42% of Democrats with Biden.
These results are indicative of how both parties approach their candidates, said Jeff Horwitt, the Democratic pollster who conducted the NBC News poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
[Los latinos se desilusionan de Biden mientras mejora su aprobación de Trump, según encuesta exclusiva]
“The two parties suffer from two different diseases,” he said. “While Democrats look inward and worry about what they see, Republicans are more willing to overlook — in my view — their candidate’s big problems.”
However, there is evidence that these supporters see the question as a thought exercise, rather than something that will make a significant difference in how they vote. 92% of Democrats in the NBC News poll said they would vote for Biden in a head-to-head with Trump, and 96% of Republicans said they would support the former president.
If given the opportunity to support a third party or independent candidate, 80% of Democrats would stay with Biden and 76% of Republicans would stay with Trump.
Choosing “the lesser of two evils”
But these messages could influence the mindset of independents, 34% of whom said they will support a candidate other than from the two major parties, as well as voters who support candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Cornelius West or Jill Stein. Voters who support those other candidates mentioned they are more likely to change their minds before November.
Among independents, the largest group chose Biden’s mental and physical health as their main negative aspect regarding the Democratic candidate (29%), while a plurality (34%) chose “none” of the negative aspects for Trump.
Among those who support third-party candidates or independents, 35% pointed to Biden’s mental and physical health, and 26% chose his handling of inflation. Regarding Trump, 26% opted for his trials, and 25% for the message about him taking credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, but 28% said none of the reasons were compelling.
How those voters respond to those messages over the next six months may be the key to deciding the election, Horwitt added.
“How can these two candidates attract people who, right now, are turned off by both of them? “Can you argue that the concerns about the other candidate are so great that he is no longer [elegir entre] two evils, but the lesser of two evils?
