3 in 4 who strongly disapprove of Trump likely to vote by mail: poll

Americans who most strongly disapprove of President Trump’s job performance are also the likeliest to vote by mail this November, according to an Axios survey.

The survey, taken between June 8 and Sept. 21, found that 74 percent of those who said they “strongly disapprove” of how Trump has done as president said they will vote by mail rather than in person this year.

Of those who said they “somewhat” disapproved of the president’s actions, 65 percent said they would vote by mail.

Americans who said they approve of the president’s job said largely the opposite in the survey.

Seventy-seven percent of those who “strongly” approve of Trump’s job performance said they’d vote in person, while 54 percent of those who “somewhat” approve said they would vote in person.

The poll comes amid continued concerns about in-person voting related to the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to health officials urging Americans to avoid large crowds and indoor public gatherings. More than 6 million Americans have been infected since the pandemic hit the U.S. earlier this year, and more than 200,000 have died.

The survey could preview an Election Day with results that initially point to a victory for the president before former Vice President Joe Biden (D) catches up with mail-in ballots at a later time, leading to confusion in an election that will likely see more mail-in ballots than any other U.S. election in history.

It could also point to a troubling notion for Biden’s campaign in that mail-in ballots have a higher likelihood of being rejected by state election officials due to mistakes made by voters marking their ballots incorrectly, which could lead to a higher percentage of Biden’s votes being disqualified.

The Axios survey’s results mirror an NBC News survey released in August that found nearly half of Biden’s supporters, 47 percent, indicating that they would cast mail-in ballots rather than vote in person.

Axios’s survey included results from 217,614 registered voters; information about a margin of error was not initially available.