Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
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.