With less than two weeks to go until the 2018 midterm elections, voters have just a short amount of time to make up their minds and to decide who they’re going to vote for. And even though he’s not up for election himself, it appears that President Donald Trump is on the minds of a good number of people planning to vote this year.
An NPR/PBS/Marist poll of registered voters conducted from October 21-23 shows that 67 percent of registered voters in the United States consider Trump to have played at least some role in how they decided to vote this year. Broken down even further, 44 percent of Americans said that his presidency played a major role in their choices for candidates, while 23 percent said it played a minor part in their decisions.
Conversely, less than a third of all Americans said that Trump played no factor at all in how they decided to vote.
What’s interesting is the comparison of these results to Trump’s immediate predecessor, former President Barack Obama. In 2014, when the poll asked the same question, only 47 percent of Americans said Obama’s presidency played a role in their vote. Fifty-two percent said that his tenure in office played no role in their decision for who they’d cast a ballot for.
Trump’s approval falls 3 points from last month to 39 in new NPR/PBS/Marist poll. Get everyone to the polls. Especially focus on the 18-39 year-olds! https://t.co/OOZDa0CJuB
— Amy Siskind ???? (@Amy_Siskind) October 26, 2018
The poll also dug into a number of other questions, including Trump’s approval rating. Just 39 percent of Americans presently think Trump is doing a good job as president right now, while 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the job he’s doing as chief executive. Trump’s approval rating is down two points since the last time the poll questioned Americans, at the start of October.
The “generic ballot” question also spells trouble for Trump’s Republican Party. 50 percent of registered voters would rather see Democrats win in their home district rather than a member of the GOP, the poll found.
Of particular concern is the fact that areas traditionally thought of as strongholds for Trump and the Republicans are now seemingly up for grabs. In the south, 45 percent of registered voters would like to see a Democrat win their home district, while 46 percent would like to see the Republican win. With the poll having a 3.9 percent margin of error, that means the “generic ballot” question is a statistical tie for that region.
In the Midwest, it’s the same story: 46 percent of voters would prefer a Democrat win in their home district, while the same number say that they’d like to see a Republican win.
