President Biden and former President Trump are even in the race for the White House, according to a poll of the race Reuters and Ipsos published Wednesday.
Each candidate received 40 percent support in the poll. That’s a 2-point improvement for Biden, who trailed Trump 41 percent to 39 percent in an identical poll in mid-June. A fifth of respondents were undecided.
The results for Biden could lessen concerns about his candidacy after a poor debate performance last week. A rising number of Democrats have called on Biden to leave the presidential campaign and let another candidate lead the ticket in November.
The poll found that 32 percent of Democrats believe Biden should leave the campaign.
Regarding the debate, 83 percent of Democrats and 97 percent of Republicans agreed Biden “stumbled” and “appeared to show his age” during the 90-minute contest, while just 58 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of Republicans said the same of Trump.
Age has taken center stage in the election. Either Biden, 81, or Trump, 78, would be the oldest president in history at the end of a second term.
Biden has rejected calls to step down and has characterized his debate performance as a one-time flub.
Vice President Harris has been a top target of Democrats who have called on Biden to bow out of the presidential race, though she has backed the president publicly.
The poll found Harris 1 point behind Trump, with 42 percent support to the former president's 43 percent, well within the poll's margin of error.
The Reuters and Ipsos poll surveyed about 1,000 voters, with a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
