While President Trump enjoys high approval ratings from Republican voters, a new Political Sentiment Poll shows only 12 percent of Republicans are enthusiastic about the President and 21 percent are ambivalent. Similarly, only 14 percent of Democrats are enthusiastic about former Vice President Joe Biden and 27 percent are ambivalent.

Independent voters feel more positive about Biden (34 percent reported feeling enthusiastic, warmed or comfortable) vs. Trump (26 percent). Nearly a fifth of Independents feel indifferent toward Biden compared to 9 percent for the President.

This is the third in a series of Political Sentiment Polls, administered by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, measuring emotional response to candidates and key issues, gauging their appeal, level of engagement with the candidates and feelings of empowerment. This latest poll was conducted on June 12, 2020 among 250 voters nationwide. Complete results are available here.

The poll results also identified negative feelings about the candidates, ranging from “sullen” to “troubled” to “alarmed.”  Trump and Biden had similar negative feelings from their respective parties (23 percent for Biden, 24 percent for Trump).  But half of Independents feel negatively about the President and more than a quarter have feelings of alarm. Twenty-seven percent of Independents had negative feelings about Biden, and 12 percent felt alarmed.

The latest poll also asked voters how they felt about issues related to COVID-19 and the recent social unrest. Most of the respondents felt very positive about wearing masks in public, and very negative about the current state of COVID-19 in the U.S. They were fairly neutral about the federal government’s handling of the crisis and slightly more negative about the President’s actions.

On the issue of social unrest, both Democrats and Independents felt very positive about peaceful protests, where Republicans were slightly above average. Democrats and Independents were also very positive about the Black Lives Matter movement, compared to Republicans who felt slightly below average about the movement. Both Democrats and Republicans felt slightly negative about the state of social justice in the U.S. today, with Independents feeling more negatively about the topic.

For full results of the most current poll and the two previous polls, go to: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/political-sentiment-poll/.

Posted: July 7, 2020
Category: College News
Tagged as: Jon Morris, Political Sentiment Polls