President Biden narrowly leads former President Trump in a new poll asking whether democracy and rule of law will be protected if either of the frontrunners is elected to the White House.
The new CBS News/YouGov poll found that 34 percent of voters think U.S. democracy and rule of law “will be safe” if Biden wins November’s election, while 33 percent said the same about Trump. Both candidates are the likely nominees from their respective parties as they barrel toward a possible 2020 rematch next fall.
A significant share of voters also expressed pessimism over the safety of democracy in either candidate’s hands. The poll found that 20 percent of voters said democracy and the rule of law will not be safe “either way.”
Another 13 percent said it would be safe no matter who wins.
Trump is leading Biden by 4 percentage points when likely voters were asked who they would vote for in a hypothetical general election. Fifty-two percent said they would back Trump and 48 percent selected Biden, according to the poll.
Trump also performed better when voters were asked about each candidate’s physical and mental health. Forty-five percent said only Trump has the physical ability to serve as president, 17 percent said only Biden did and 29 percent neither one does.
Similarly, 43 percent said only Trump has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president while 26 percent said only Biden did. One-fourth of respondents said neither candidate did, according to the poll.
The poll was conducted among 2,159 U.S. adult residents between Feb. 28 to March 1 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
