A new CBS News/YouGov poll nationally and in seven key battleground states finds the presidential race picture largely unchanged nationally after Thursday’s debate, 50% of likely voters nationwide back Donald Trump, 48% Joe Biden, about the same as in CBS’s pre-debate poll.
Across battleground states, 51% back Trump, 48% Biden. CBS did not provide a state-by-state breakdown of results in the battlegrounds, which include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
About seven in 10 registered voters in this poll say Biden should not be running (69%, slightly down from the 72% who said so in a CBS poll released over the weekend), including 41% of Democrats (a slight downtick from 46% who said so in the June 28-29 poll) and 78% of independents (that was 82% in the prior post-debate poll).
Republicans in the poll are more likely to say they will definitely vote in the presidential election this year than are Democrats (90% of Republican registered voters nationwide say so, compared with 81% of Democrats), and CBS reports the divide is similar in the battlegrounds.
More in the poll nationwide say that Trump is energetic (65%), effective (51%) and competent (48%) than say the same about Biden (18% energetic, 40% effective, 39% competent). And 69% consider Biden’s age a factor in their vote, compared with 48% who say Trump’s age is one.
Overall, 53% of voters say Thursday’s presidential debate made them think worse of Biden, including 61% of independents and 28% of Democrats, just 9% of all voters said it made them think better of Biden and 38% that it caused no change. For Trump, 27% say it made them think worse of him, 25% better, with 48% saying no change.
More on the poll: The poll was conducted online among a random national sample of 2,836 registered voters from June 28 through July 2 and has a 2.3 point error margin for national results and 4.4 points for results in the battleground states.
