Former President Donald Trump’s hidden supporters are becoming more vocal in the polls, boosting his performance, an expert said.
Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden in the polls for the November elections, with Republicans maintaining their lead even with the addition of third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“The race remains closer than before Super Tuesday when Trump consistently led. Trump performs slightly better with Republicans and his own 2020 backers than Biden does with Democrats and his 2020 supporters.”
The poll also found President Biden maintaining a “popularity edge” over his challenger. “This is the third successive week in which Biden’s net favorability rating has bettered Trump’s—the longest such stretch since April 2023.”
The latest bets at Polymarket as to who will win the 2024 presidential race have 55 percent of people putting their money on President Trump to secure his second term, a 14 percentage point lead over President Biden with 39 percent backing.
Swing State Polling
In key battleground states, President Trump is emerging as a winner in several surveys. According to an average of multiple polls by RealClear Polling, President Trump had a lead in all seven key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Overall, the GOP candidate had a 3.6 percentage point lead over President Biden in the seven states. His largest lead was in Nevada at 6.2 points, followed by North Carolina with 5.4 points, Arizona with 5.2 points, and 4.6 points in Georgia.
“The hidden Trump vote has always been there, and there’s a certain segment of Trump people who just won’t say they’re for Trump,” he said. While the share of these hidden voters varies by state, “you’ve probably got three to five percent of Trump people kind of under the radar.”
This year, the share of such Trump supporters hidden under the radar has become a “little smaller” since they are no longer silent, he stated. As a result, their voices are being calculated into the polls, thus contributing to President Trump’s lead.
Minority Votes
Meanwhile, President Trump is also seeing a boost in support among minority groups like black and Hispanic voters.
“The Democratic Party’s wide lead over Republicans in Black Americans’ party preferences has shrunk by nearly 20 points over the past three years,” according to the Gallup report. “Democrats’ leads among Hispanic adults and adults aged 18 to 29 have slid nearly as much, resulting in Democrats’ holding only a modest edge among both groups.”
“I go to an African American barbershop. I go to an African American Church. Joe Biden is as strong with African Americans as he has ever been,” Mr. Clyburn said.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Matthew Wilson, a professor at Southern Methodist University, said the shift in the voting preferences of minority voters “shows up consistently in survey after survey, and it also shows up in actual electoral results going back to 2016.”
“And there’s just real movement and more diversity in the electoral outcomes in [predominantly black and Hispanic precincts] than had been true in the past. So I think Democrats who are inclined to write it off as artificial are engaged in wishful thinking, because it shows up in multiple different indicators.”
“My predecessor and his extreme MAGA friends are now going after diversity, equity, and inclusion all across America,” he said. “They want a country for some, not for all.”