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Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Voters Express Discontent With Biden
A new set of Times/Siena polls, including one with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reveal an erosion of support for the president among young and nonwhite voters upset about the economy and Gaza.
Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Voters Express Discontent With Biden
A new set of Times/Siena polls, including one with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reveal an erosion of support for the president among young and nonwhite voters upset about the economy and Gaza.Listen to this article · 13:26 min Learn more
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
SIENA COLLEGE POLL
April 28 to May 9
If the 2024 presidential election were held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were Joe Biden and Donald Trump?
Trump
45%
Biden
47%
Wisconsin
44
47
Pennsylvania
42
49
Arizona
42
49
Michigan
39
49
Georgia
38
50
Nevada
Margin of error
Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Voters Express Discontent With Biden - The New York Times
Results are among registered voters. Respondents who said they didn't know who they would vote for or who declined to say are not included.
Based on New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College polls of registered voters in six battleground states conducted from April 28 to May 9, 2024.
By Molly Cook Escobar
By Nate Cohn
May 13, 2024Updated 4:11 a.m. ET
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Donald J. Trump leads President Biden in five crucial battleground states, a new set of polls shows, as a yearning for change and discontent over the economy and the war in Gaza among young, Black and Hispanic voters threaten to unravel the president’s Democratic coalition.
The surveys by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer found that Mr. Trump was ahead among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup against Mr. Biden in five of six key states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden led among registered voters in only one battleground state, Wisconsin.
[You can find the full results of the polls, including the exact questions that were asked, here. You can see answers to common questions about our polling process here.]
The race was closer among likely voters. Mr. Trump led in five states as well, but Mr. Biden edged ahead in Michigan while trailing only narrowly in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. While Mr. Biden won all six of those states in 2020, victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin would be enough for him to win re-election, provided he won everywhere else he did four years ago.
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The results were similar in a hypothetical matchup that included minor-party candidates and the independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who won an average of 10 percent of the vote across the six states and drew roughly equally from the two major-party candidates.
Image
President Biden trails former President Donald J. Trump in polls of battleground states conducted by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer.Credit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
The findings are mostly unchanged since the last series of Times/Siena polls in battleground states in November. Since then, the stock market has gained 25 percent, Mr. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan has started, and the Biden campaign has unleashed tens of millions of dollars in advertisements across the battleground states.
The polls offer little indication that any of these developments have helped Mr. Biden, hurt Mr. Trump or quelled the electorate’s discontent. Instead, the surveys show that the cost of living, immigration, Israel’s war in Gaza and a desire for change continue to be a drag on the president’s standing. While Mr. Biden benefited from a burst of momentum in the wake of his State of the Union address in March, he continues to trail in the average of national and battleground state polls.
How support for the candidates differs
between registered and likely voters
Registered
voters
Likely
voters
Biden
Difference
42%
43%
+1
Arizona
39
41
+2
Georgia
42
47
+5
Michigan
38
38
+1
Nevada
44
45
+1
Pennsylvania
47
46
–1
Wisconsin
Registered
voters
Likely
voters
Trump
Difference
49%
49%
+1
Arizona
49
50
+2
Georgia
49
46
–4
Michigan
50
51
+2
Nevada
47
48
+1
Pennsylvania
45
47
+2
Wisconsin
Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Voters Express Discontent With Biden - The New York Times
Differences are calculated with unrounded figures and then rounded so they may not add up in their rounded forms.
Based on New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College polls of registered voters in six battleground states conducted from April 28 to May 9, 2024.
By Molly Cook Escobar
The findings reveal widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the country and serious doubts about Mr. Biden’s ability to deliver major improvements to American life. A majority of voters still desire the return to normalcy promised by Mr. Biden in the last campaign, but voters in battleground states remain particularly anxious, unsettled and itching for change. Nearly 70 percent of voters say that the country’s political and economic systems need major changes — or even to be torn down entirely.
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Only a sliver of Mr. Biden’s supporters — just 13 percent — believe that the president would bring major changes in his second term, while even many of those who dislike Mr. Trump grudgingly acknowledge that he would shake up an unsatisfying status quo.
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The sense that Mr. Biden would do little to improve the nation’s fortunes has helped erode his standing among young, Black and Hispanic voters, who usually represent the foundation of any Democratic path to the presidency. The Times/Siena polls found that the three groups wanted fundamental changes to American society, not just a return to normalcy, and few believed that Mr. Biden would make even minor changes that would be good for the country.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden are essentially tied among 18-to-29-year-olds and Hispanic voters, even though each group gave Mr. Biden more than 60 percent of their vote in 2020. Mr. Trump also wins more than 20 percent of Black voters — a tally that would be the highest level of Black support for any Republican presidential candidate since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Image
The polls found Mr. Trump ahead among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup against Mr. Biden in five of six key states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden led among registered voters in only one battleground state, Wisconsin.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
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The polls suggest that Mr. Trump’s strength among young and nonwhite voters has at least temporarily upended the electoral map, with Mr. Trump surging to a significant lead in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada — relatively diverse Sun Belt states where Black and Hispanic voters propelled Mr. Biden to signature victories in the 2020 election.
Mr. Biden nonetheless remains within striking distance. He has maintained most of his support among older and white voters, who are much less likely to demand fundamental changes to the system and far likelier to say that democracy is the most important issue for their vote. As a result, Mr. Biden is more competitive in the three relatively white Northern swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
What questions were asked? Who answers polls?
The New York Times/Siena College Poll has earned a reputation for accuracy and transparency. Our pollsters and editors are committed to explaining our methods and answering common questions. Read our Q. and A. and explore the full results of the polls:
You Ask, We Answer: How The Times/Siena Poll Is Conducted
Toplines: May 2024 Times/Siena Poll of the Presidential Battlegrounds
The economy and the cost of living, however, remain the most important issues for one-quarter of voters — and a significant drag on Mr. Biden’s prospects. More than half of voters still believe that the economy is “poor,” down merely a single percentage point since November despite cooling inflation, an end to rate hikes and significant stock market gains.
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Nearly 40 percent of Mr. Trump’s supporters said that the economy or the cost of living was the most important issue in the election, among them Jennifer Wright, a registered nurse in Sterling Heights, Mich. She supported Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, and to her the election comes down to one question: “Who is the best candidate who is going to help me be in a financial situation to retire?”
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“Even me, as a registered nurse, I’m buying Kroger brand or store brand. I’m not buying Jif. We’ve all had to cut back,” she said.
Image
Jennifer Wright, 50, a registered nurse in Sterling Heights, Mich., is planning to vote for Mr. Trump in November, having also done so in 2016 and 2020. Credit...Nic Antaya for The New York Times
The Biden administration’s insistence that the economy is faring well has fallen flat for many voters, including Jacob Sprague, 32, who works as a systems engineer in Reno, Nev. He says that he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 but will not be doing so this time.
“It is concerning to me when I keep seeing press come out of the White House where they keep saying the economy is good,” Mr. Sprague said. “That’s really weird because I’m paying more on taxes and more on groceries and more on housing and more on fuel. So that doesn’t feel good.”
With less than six months to go until the election, there is still time for an improving economy to lift Mr. Biden’s standing. Historically, polls at this early stage have not been necessarily indicative of the outcome, and Mr. Trump’s breakthrough among traditionally Democratic young, Black and Hispanic voters may not rest on a solid foundation. His strength is concentrated among irregular, disengaged voters who do not pay close attention to politics and may not yet be tuned into the race. They may be prone to shift their views as the race gets underway.
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In a finding that will frustrate Democrats, even as it presents opportunity for Mr. Biden, nearly 20 percent of voters blame him more than they do Mr. Trump for the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade. They may be the kind of voters that the Biden campaign hopes to persuade as the campaign heats up.
Image
Jacob Sprague, 32, voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 and said he would not be doing so in November. “I’m paying more on taxes and more on groceries and more on housing and more on fuel. So that doesn’t feel good,” said Mr. Sprague.Credit...Emily Najera for The New York Times
The polls showed that abortion loomed as one of Mr. Trump’s biggest vulnerabilities. On average, 64 percent of voters in battleground states said that abortion should be always or mostly legal, including 44 percent of Mr. Trump’s own supporters.
In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has sought to emphasize Mr. Trump’s support for the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. For now, though, voters preferred Mr. Biden over Mr. Trump to handle the issue of abortion by 11 points, 49 to 38 percent.
A bigger challenge for Mr. Biden than disengaged voters may ultimately be the disaffected and the disillusioned — those who desire fundamental changes to American society, or who believe that the political and economic systems need to be torn down altogether. Not long ago, these anti-system voters might have been reliably Democratic, but Mr. Trump’s anti-establishment populist brand of conservatism has flipped the usual political dynamic.
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Seventy percent of voters believe that Mr. Trump will either bring major changes to the political or economic system or tear down the systems altogether, compared with 24 percent who expect the same from Mr. Biden. And while many voters express deep reservations about Mr. Trump personally, 43 percent of voters believe that he will bring good changes to the country, compared with 35 percent who think the changes will be bad.
Most Americans think the system needs to change …
Which comes closest to your view about the political and economic
system in America, even if none are exactly right?
The system needs ...
... to be
torn down
entirely
... no changes 2%
... major changes
... minor changes
14%
55%
27%
Don’t know/
declined to say 2%
… and they think that Donald Trump would bring more change …
If [this candidate] won the election, do you think nothing would change,
there would be minor changes to how things work, there would be major
changes to how things work, or he would tear down the system completely?
Tear down
system
entirely
Nothing
would change
Minor changes
13%
11%
39%
32%
Biden
Major
changes
Don’t know/
declined to say 4%
25%
45%
23%
Trump
4%
3%
… but they are split on whether that change would be good or bad.
Do you think the changes that [this candidate] would make would be good
for the country or bad for the country, or neither good nor bad?
Somewhat
or very good
Somewhat
or very bad
Nothing
would change
Neither
24%
15%
23%
32%
Biden
Don’t know/
declined to say 5%
43%
12%
35%
Trump
4%
5%
Figures may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.
Based on New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College polls of registered voters in six battleground states conducted from April 28 to May 9, 2024.
By Molly Cook Escobar
Mr. Trump fares especially well among those who believe that the political and economic systems ought to be torn down, a group that represents about 15 percent of registered voters. He leads among these anti-system voters by 32 points, and the tear-it-down voters are especially likely to have defected from the president. In contrast, Mr. Biden retains nearly all of his 2020 supporters who believe only minor changes are necessary.
These change voters are not necessarily demanding a more ideologically progressive agenda. In the last Times/Siena poll of the same states, 11 percent of registered voters thought that Mr. Biden was not progressive or liberal enough. And while many liberal or progressive voters want major changes, relatively few of those voters are defecting from Mr. Biden.
Instead, Mr. Biden’s losses are concentrated among moderate and conservative Democratic-leaning voters, who nonetheless think that the system needs major changes or to be torn down altogether. Mr. Trump wins just 2 percent of Mr. Biden’s “very liberal” 2020 voters who think the system at least needs major changes, compared with 16 percent of those who are moderate or conservative.
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One exception is Israel’s war in Gaza, an issue on which most of Mr. Biden’s challenge appears to come from his left. Around 13 percent of the voters who say they voted for Mr. Biden last time, but do not plan to do so again, said that his foreign policy or the war in Gaza was the most important issue to their vote. Just 17 percent of those voters reported sympathizing with Israel over the Palestinians.
Image
Israel’s war in Gaza has fueled protests across the United States, and has sapped support of Mr. Biden among voters who do not sympathize with Israel.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Gerard Willingham, 30, works as a web administrator and lives in Riverdale, Ga. He voted for Mr. Biden in 2020, but he plans to vote for a third-party candidate in November because of the president’s response to the conflict in Gaza, the issue about which he cares most right now.
“I think it’s made quite a bit of difference in that it made me more heavily than in the past push toward voting for a third party, even if I feel that the candidates almost 100 percent won’t win,” Mr. Willingham said. “It’s starting to reach into my moral conscience, I guess.”
Mr. Trump’s trial in Manhattan, on charges that he falsified business records related to a hush-money payment to cover up an affair with the adult film star Stormy Daniels, was already underway when the polls began in late April. However, the survey offered little indication that the trial had damaged the former president’s political fortunes, at least so far. Just 29 percent of voters in battleground states said that they were paying “a lot” of attention to Mr. Trump’s legal woes, and 35 percent thought that the trial was likely to end in a conviction.
Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.
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Here are the key things to know about how these polls were conducted:
- We spoke with 4,097 registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from April 28 to May 9, 2024.
- Our polls are conducted by telephone, using live interviewers, in both English and Spanish. Nearly 95 percent of respondents were contacted on a cellphone for this poll. You can see the exact questions that were asked and the order in which they were asked here.
- Voters are selected for the survey from a list of registered voters. The list contains information on the demographic characteristics of every registered voter, allowing us to make sure we reach the right number of voters of each party, race and region. For this set of polls, we placed nearly 500,000 calls to about 410,000 voters.
- To further ensure that the results reflect the entire voting population, not just those willing to take a poll, we give more weight to respondents from demographic groups underrepresented among survey respondents, like people without a college degree. You can see more information about the characteristics of our respondents and the weighted sample on the methodology page, under “Composition of the Sample.”
- When the states are joined together, the margin of sampling error among registered voters is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. Each state poll has a margin of error ranging from plus or minus 3.6 points in Pennsylvania to plus or minus 4.6 points in Georgia. In theory, this means that the results should reflect the views of the overall population most of the time, though many other challenges create additional sources of error. When computing the difference between two values — such as a candidate’s lead in a race — the margin of error is twice as large.
The New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College poll of Pennsylvania was funded by a grant from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The poll was designed and conducted independently from the institute.
