Reuters
President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday he does not believe opinion polls that show his likely Democratic presidential opponent, Joe Biden, leading in the 2020 race for the White House.
During an interview in the Oval Office, the Republican president said he did not expect the election to be a referendum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and added he was surprised the former vice president was doing well.
“I don’t believe the polls,” Trump said. “I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent.”
Trump has criticized Biden’s decades-long record as a U.S. senator and as President Barack Obama’s vice president.
“And I don’t mean incompetent because of a condition that he’s got now. I mean he’s incompetent for 30 years. Everything he ever did was bad. His foreign policy was a disaster,” Trump said.
Polls conducted this week by Reuters/Ipsos about a general election matchup showed that 44% of registered voters said they would back Biden in the Nov. 3 election, while 40% said they would support Trump.
More critical for Trump, a recent poll by Reuters/Ipsos of the three key battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had Biden with a 45%-39% edge over the president. Trump’s victories in those states in the 2016 election helped propel him to the White House.
Trump closely questioned his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and other political advisers after they showed him poll numbers showing him losing the re-election race to Biden, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The president was told he was behind Biden in many key battleground states and would have lost the Electoral College if the election had taken place in April.
Trump, in a tweet early on Thursday, said he supported Parscale.
“Actually, he is doing a great job. I never shouted at him (been with me for years, including the 2016 win), & have no intention to do so,” he said.
Referendum on a lot of things
Trump told Reuters he did not view the election as a test of how he did with the pandemic.
“No, I don’t think so. I think it’s a referendum on a lot of things,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to be a referendum on all the things we’ve done and certainly this will be a part of it, but we’ve done a great job.”
Biden has criticized Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Asked if he would debate Biden in the autumn, Trump responded: “Of course.”
The president has sought to stir up discord in Democratic Party ranks about Senator Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsed Biden earlier this month.
The president has suggested that if fellow progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren had dropped out of the Democratic contest earlier, Sanders would have prevailed over Biden.
“He should never have won the primary, ever in a million years, because those votes were taken away. They were taken away from Bernie Sanders. And I think I’m going to get a lot of Bernie Sanders voters,” Trump said.
Trump has sought to make the case to Sanders’ supporters that their preferred candidate was treated unfairly, building on resentment that still lingers from 2016 when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton beat Sanders for the nomination before losing to Trump in the general election.
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Republished with permission of Reuters
4 comments
Johny Reb "Seber" Trump
April 30, 2020 at 8:36 am
Does anyone believe any polls after the election of 2016. They are all lies put out by the liberal socialist media. Biden does not even know where he is most of the time. You hear his latest blunder.. “Economic Intercourse”. He has lost his mind, early signs of dementia. Sad , that his wife is doing this to him.
Wethepeople
April 30, 2020 at 9:22 am
The CCP wants to put Biden in the presidency. While the Clintons wanted the WH to cover their abuses,the Chinese want an economic and political free hand to follow their strategic goals. Does any reader think that they will achieve that from a Trump presidency? Will they achieve that through Biden? I let you figure that one out.
Wethepeople
April 30, 2020 at 9:23 am
The CCP wants to put Biden in the presidency. While the Clintons wanted the WH to cover their abuses,the Chinese want an economic and political free hand to follow their strategic goals. Does any reader think that they will achieve that from a Trump presidency? Will they achieve that through Biden? u figure that one out.
morstar
April 30, 2020 at 10:07 am
Reuters apparently, is willing to raise their political incompetence in this article. The magnitude of Reuters’ last presidential polling inaccuracy was astounding. Include here is a portion of Reuters’ own mea culpa about getting it wrong back in 2016.
REUTERS: NOVEMBER 9, 2016 / 5:37 PM / 3 YEARS AGO
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-polls/how-the-polls-including-ours-missed-trumps-victory-idUSKBN1343O6
“The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project projected Clinton to win the popular vote 45 percent to 42 percent, and gave her a 90 percent probability of winning the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the election. In the end, Clinton won the popular vote by 47.7 percent to 47.5 percent, by the latest count, and Trump could win the Electoral College by as many as 303 votes to Clinton’s 233 when the tally is final.”
So what does this tell you and why does this continue to be a problem for Reuters?
Could it be that Reuters goes into the polling process with an predetermined agenda? Good polling asks neutral questions. Good polling polls the right people, namely likely voters with a political makeup consistent with the constituency. Finally, good presidential polling requires electoral college application. If the polling is to have any value then you don’t restrict your poll takers to places like New York or California.
So, why are these polls always so inaccurate? Simply because they ignore the means of putting together accurate voter participation and they allow agenda driven media outlets to ignore real issues and focus the desired outcome.
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