Questions linger in Biden sexual assault allegation in new poll

Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump is growing nationwide even though most voters are aware of a sexual assault allegation against him, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday. It is the first major national survey to ask voters about the allegation against the former vice president.

All told, 50% of voters said they would vote for Biden in a head-to-head matchup, and 41% said they would vote for Trump. In an April Monmouth poll, Biden led the president by just 4 points; in March, he led by 3. The margin of error in the new poll was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

A large majority of voters — 86% — were aware of the allegation that Biden sexually assaulted a Senate aide, Tara Reade, in 1993. Reade said he pinned her to a wall, reached under her clothing and penetrated her with his fingers.

After Biden publicly denied Reade’s accusation Friday, Monmouth added a question to the poll already in progress, asking whether voters had heard about the allegation and whether they thought it was true.

Thirty-seven percent said it was probably true, 32% said it was probably not true, and 31% had no opinion. The margin of error for questions related to the assault allegation was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

There was a large partisan divide in whether voters viewed the allegation as credible. Republicans tended to say it was probably true, 50% to 17%, while Democrats tended to say it was probably not true, 55% to 20%. By 2-to-1, independent voters were more likely to say it was true (43%) than to say it wasn’t (22%).

Among voters who said they believed the allegation, 59% supported Trump, and 32% supported Biden. Among voters who did not believe the allegation, 79% supported Biden, and just 14% supported Trump.

Biden was still seen more favorably overall than Trump: 41% of voters saw him favorably, while 44% saw him unfavorably. The president was seen positively by just 40% of voters and negatively by 53%.

In a hypothetical threeway race with Justin Amash, a candidate for the Libertarian nomination, Biden still led Trump on the ballot — but by 7 points.