Poll Finds Lack of Enthusiasm for Biden, Trump among Rural Voters
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A poll released Friday revealed that support among rural voters for both US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump is lackluster, with nearly one-third of respondents saying their votes are still up for grabs.
A Colby College poll found that 64% of rural voters say they plan to vote in November for Trump, the runaway favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, compared with 35% who said they would vote for Biden, The Washington Times reported.
But the poll found that 31% of likely rural Trump voters said their vote was a vote against Biden and only about 30% said they were “very happy” with Trump at the top of the GOP ticket.
Just 29% of rural Biden supporters said they are “very happy” that he is the nominee, and only 38% think it’s “very likely” that he’ll beat Trump in November. More than half, about 53%, said their vote for Biden is more of a vote against Trump.
“Whether rural voters are full-throated supporters of the GOP and conservative policies is an open question,” said Nicholas Jacobs, an assistant professor of government and a co-researcher on the survey.
“Much of this support is a reaction against Democrats and a widely perceived disregard for the fate of rural life and rural people. If Biden can show that he authentically cares about rural voters, that his administration has actually invested in rural America, and convince voters that he hears their concerns about border security, he could make some headway in the countryside, especially with the third of Trump voters who might be up for grabs,” he said.
Among the third of Trump voters who said they were simply voting against Biden, 20% said immigration is the top issue confronting the country, ranking it ahead of the economy.
About 27% of rural voters said the economy is in “horrible” shape, and 39% said their community was doing worse than the country as a whole. Half of the respondents said they have yet to recover financially from the COVID pandemic.
The poll also found that Biden's message that democracy is at stake in the 2024 election has fallen flat with rural voters. Although 70% said they believe the future of the country is at stake, only 27% of rural voters — including 23% of Trump voters — said people should take “drastic action” to stop either Trump or Biden from taking office.
The survey polled 2,500 likely voters between January 5 and January 10.