Trump tops Biden by 2 points in new national survey

Former President Trump topped President Biden, his chief general election rival, by 2 points in a national survey released Friday. 

Trump garnered 46 percent of support from U.S. voters in the new Emerson College poll, edging out Biden, who received 44 percent, marking a narrow lead within the margin of error. Around 10 percent were undecided.

When those undecided respondents were asked which candidate they lean toward, there was an equal split, with both contenders getting 50 percent of the vote. 

Trump holds a double-digit lead over Biden among new voters — those who did not cast their ballots in 2020. The presumptive GOP nominee got 35 percent while Biden was at 24 percent. Around 41 percent said they were undecided. 

When third-party candidates are inserted into the mix, Trump’s support decreases by 2 points, but his lead over Biden jumps. 

The former president got 44 percent, a 5-point lead over Biden’s 39 percent. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got 6 percent, while Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein got 1 percent each. Some 10 percent said they were undecided. 

Biden’s approval rating was 37 percent, while 52 percent said they disapproved. 

The economy was the most important issue for voters in the survey, at 38 percent. Immigration was second at 17 percent. Threats to democracy was at 13 percent, according to the poll, while housing affordability, crime, abortion access and health care were each at 6 percent. 

The majority of respondents, around 53 percent, said even if Trump were convicted in his New York hush money case, where he faces 34 felony counts, it would not impact their vote in November. A quarter of them said the guilty verdict would make them less likely to back the presumptive GOP nominee, while almost another quarter, 23 percent, said it would make them more likely to vote for him. 

The poll was conducted May 21-23 among 1,100 registered voters. The margin of error was 2.9 percentage points.