Undecided swing-state voters still hate Donald Trump, but they have preferences regarding who is on the Democratic side of the race, according to a series of focus groups summarized by a conservative pollster.
GOP strategist and publisher of The Bulwark Sarah Longwell, who previously showed how Trump's rise wasn't due to the will of voters, posted her findings to social media Saturday. In doing so, Longwell said, "I’ve conducted 14 focus groups since the debate," and outlined "some top lines from the swing voter groups."
Her first finding was that "almost ALL want Biden to step aside."
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"They don’t think he can do the job for four more years," the pollster said. "They have a negative impression of Kamala Harris, but it’s an impression, not locked in. Mainly don’t know what she does."
She then added that "The preferences for an alternative are all over the map."
"But Whitmer/Shapiro/Newsom are the top picks. Basically they just want someone younger," she said. "We’re talking to a lot of swing state voters, so there are a disproportionate number of PA/MI voters in the groups, so less surprising to hear Whitmer and Shapiro from those folks."
Longwell went on to say that the participants "mostly still HATE Trump."
"They don’t want to vote for him (though some will). But they don’t feel like it’s responsible to vote for Biden in his diminished state," she said. "They are despondent over these choices. Many talking about leaving the top of the ticket blank."
She continued:
"They were shocked by Biden’s performance at the debate, despite already thinking he was too old for the job. The word 'frail' is used often. Many talk about their own parents and grandparents stubbornly clinging to the car keys. They think it’s insane he’s running again."
Longwell also described the results of three groups of Black Dems, saying "they were much more inclined toward Biden staying."
"They worried it was too late to make a change. However, they were also incredibly pragmatic," she said. "They have one goal and one goal only, beating Trump. Whoever could do that they were for."
Finally, Longwell concluded that "the most alarming groups for Dems are the ones we’ve done with Clinton/Biden voters—regular Dem voters who are now undecided."
"Those groups also wanted Biden to step aside, and several people were third-party curious or talking about leaving by the top of the ticket blank," Longwell wrote in her weekend post.
