The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)

Poll

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the nickname “Pennsylvan­ia’s third senator” during his decades representi­ng Delaware in the Senate.

Trump narrowly won Pennsylvan­ia in 2016, an upset victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. His ability to flip that state is widely credited with securing his Electoral College success.

Voter preference­s

Biden holds a clear advantage over Trump on his ability to handle the coronaviru­s pandemic, his ability to manage issues related to race and his understand­ing of the concerns facing ordinary Americans.

And he is notably favored when it comes to the attributes that voters are looking for in a president, particular­ly when it comes to character and honesty.

But Trump continues to

have an edge when it comes to economic matters.

Madonna said partisansh­ip and ideology are primary drivers of presidenti­al preference, with Biden holding slightly larger portions of Democrats than Trump holds among Republican­s.

He added that difference­s in preference are also associated with geography, with counties that have large urban centers favoring Biden and more rural counties backing Trump.

Strong interest

Almost three of four registered voters — 71 percent — said they were very interested in the election, a similar level of interest as seen in a poll at this time four years ago.

Madonna said voter interest is related to political party and ideology. At the moment, similar proportion­s of Democrats and Republican­s say they are very interested.

And most of those voters say they will be heading to the polls to cast their

ballots in November rather than choosing to vote by mail.

About 60 percent say they intend to cast their ballot in person, compared with just 34 percent who plan to vote by mail. Democrats are more likely to vote by mail than vote in person while more Republican­s expect to vote in person vote rather than by mail.

The survey shows that most (59 percent) of the state’s registered voters

are confident that the count will be accurate if voting by mail is widely used but only one in three Republican­s are confident those counts will be accurate compared to most Democrats (83 percent) and independen­ts (51 percent).

The survey was conducted between Sept. 14 and Sunday. The margin of error is 6.5 percentage points for registered voters. The Reading Eagle is a media partner of the poll.

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