Biden Pulls Ahead of Trump in New Major Post-Debate Poll — Despite ‘Mental Fitness’ Concerns

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll put President Joe Biden two points ahead of former President Donald Trump two weeks after his debate performance called his mental fitness into question.

The poll, published on Friday, asked registered voters across the country — “including leaners” — whom they would vote for if the presidential election was held today. Fifty percent of those polled said they would vote for Biden, 48 percent said they would vote for Trump. The margin of error in the poll was 3.3 percentage points, making the numbers basically split down the middle. Marist noted that their poll one month ago, conducted before the presidential debate, had each candidate at 49 percent.

If a third party candidate was introduced, both candidates polled slightly lower — Trump at 43 percent, Biden at 42 percent, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 8 percent, Cornel West at 3 percent, Jill Stein at 2 percent, and Chase Oliver at less than one percent. The race remained a statistical tie.

Both Trump and Biden had trouble with unfavorable numbers, with Trump’s numbers a bit higher — among voters who had unfavorable views of both candidates, Trump was seen as more unfavorable by four points (47 percent) over Biden (43 percent). That number is an improvement for Trump over last month’s pre-debate poll, which had Trump more unfavorable by 7 points.

The poll’s summary also revealed some brutal numbers for Biden regarding the public’s view of his mental fitness:

Nearly two in three Americans (64%), including 38% of Democrats and 35% of Biden supporters, do not think Biden has the mental fitness to serve as president. 68% of independents say the same.

Americans divide (50% mentally fit to 49% mentally unfit) about Trump’s mental acuity.

The poll was conducted with 1,309 adults from July 9 through July 10, adults 18 and older, who answered questions either by text or in a phone call. Of the total number of those polled, 1,174 were registered voters (this subset had a 3.3-point margin of error), 954 of whom stated they definitely planned on voting in the general election (this subset had a 3.6-point margin of error).

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