Trump captures Biden’s blue-collar, older voter base
By Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
May 12, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s hope of riding the support of blue-collar workers and older voters to the White House has hit a wall called President Trump.
In a survey of key battleground states conducted after Biden entered the 2020 Democratic primary, Trump not only has a 46%-44% edge, but he has a 26-point lead among non-college educated workers earning $75,000 or less, considered the blue-collar base and a Biden target.
What’s more, the battleground state survey from WPA Intelligence showed that Trump does better with Biden’s other main support group, older voters, and has a 48%-44% lead over Biden in Florida, dubbed the Democrat’s “firewall.”
“Biden may be a blue-collar guy, but that doesn’t mean the policies of the left or the Democratic brand will suddenly recover with blue-collar voters,” said WPA Intelligence CEO Chris Wilson.
“President Trump has done a good job both rhetorically, and with policy, making it clear that he cares about working class Americans to the extent that these voters should be considered Trump base voters,” added Wilson.
Wilson’s survey was the latest to also show a Trump recovery in the suburbs and with women.
His poll not only tested the presidential rankings in states Trump won in 2016 — Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — but also Trump’s trade policies and handling of a fight with Qatar over subsidizing its Qatar Airways and flooding U.S. routes in violation of an open-skies agreement that shuns subsidized airlines.
It found support for Trump on trade, despite complaints about tariffs, by a 51%-42% margin, another key advantage for the president moving into 2020.
Late last week, when the survey was provided to the Examiner, Secrets wrote about the Qatar elements of the poll that suggested Trump take a hard line with Qatar. Examiner senior political correspondent David M. Drucker reported on the 2020 horse race numbers.
Overall in four of the six states, Trump is beating Biden by margins similar to his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. In two others, he is within the margin of error.
- Florida it is Trump over Biden 48%-44%.
- Iowa Trump, 49%-Biden 44%.
- Texas Trump, 49%-Biden 42%.
- Wisconsin, Trump 46%-Biden 42%.
- Pennsylvania, Trump 45%-Biden 46%.
- Michigan. Trump 42%-Biden 45%.
“People who are writing off Trump because of his approval rating or because of the mid-terms might be in for a big surprise — again,” said Republican pollster Wilson.