Former President Donald Trump is now leading President Biden by five points nationally, expanding his lead after his near-assassination on Saturday.
The CBS poll, published Thursday, shows Trump up 52%-47% nationally among likely voters. The same survey had him up by two points on July 3 (50%-48%).
A Republican president has not won the popular vote in two decades. It’s been three decades since one won by over 5%.
Trump also has a notable lead in key battleground states, where he bests Biden 51%-48%.
The former president upped his lead by one point across the swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — since the last time CBS conducted a battleground survey one week ago.
The survey indicated that the shooting could directly change their likelihood of voting for Trump in November.
The poll showed 26% of registered voters said they were more willing to vote for Trump after he was shot on Saturday by a gunman at his Butler, Pa., rally. The majority of voters said the assassination attempt did not change their mind (67%), while 7% said it made them less likely to consider him.
Trump’s reaction to the shooting also directly impacted how voters view him. He rose up and pumped his fist in the air after being tackled by Secret Service agents at the rally and has since encouraged “unity” for the country. A majority of respondents, 54%, said Trump has since encouraged “more unity,” while 46% said he encouraged “more division.”
A large number of voters, 75%, said the Secret Service could have “done more” to protect the former president from 20-year-old Thomas Crooks who shot into the crowd from an unguarded nearby roof.
Trump (51%) also fared better than Vice President Kamala Harris (48%) in a head-to-head matchup among likely voters. Biden has been facing pressure from a growing number of Congressional Democrats and top allies to suspend his 2024 run after he stumbled heavily in his debate against Trump on June 27.
A majority of respondents, 56%, said Biden should step aside. Forty-four percent said he should continue running.
Trump was the top candidate for voters when they chose who would “fight a lot for people like you,” coming in at 37%, ahead of Biden (28%), Harris (26%), and GOP VP nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) (26%).
Vance, who was picked as Trump’s VP on Monday, had 51% of Republican registered voters saying they were enthusiastic about the choice. Forty-three percent said they were “satisfied” and 6% said they were dissatisfied or angry.
Going forward, 63% of registered voters surveyed said they predicted political violence will get worse, while 28% said it would stay the same and 9% said it would decrease.
The survey was conducted July 16-18, had a sample size of 2,247 voters and had a margin of error of 2.7%.
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