Half of likely voters surveyed in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday said that having President Trump in the White House makes them feel less safe.
Why it matters: Trump has campaigned on the promise of "law and order" by telling voters they "won't be safe in Joe Biden's America."
The big picture: The first batch of national polls released after the Republican and Democratic conventions show the former vice president keeping his national lead.
- Likely voters support Biden over Trump 52%-42%, per Quinnipiac's latest survey.
- Biden leads Trump — 50%-43% — in a new USA T0day/Suffolk University Poll.
- Registered voters support Biden over Trump 47%-40%, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday shows.
- Likely voters back Biden over Trump 49%-41% in the latest Grinnell College national poll.
- Biden has an 11-point lead over Trump among registered voters in a new Economist/YouGov poll.
Remember: Four years after Trump defied expectations set by pollsters and news organizations, the public should have even less confidence that public opinion data can accurately pinpoint a winner, Axios' Sara Kehaulani Goo and David Nather report.
What they're saying: "While the president has been pushing the issue of safety to the center of the presidential campaign, it raises the question: Who most has your back, the current administration or the challengers?" Quinnipiac analyst Tim Malloy noted in a press release.
- "As racial strife, a seemingly endless pandemic, and an economy on life support unnerve Americans, voters foresee a more reliable lifeline in the Biden Harris ticket."
The bottom line: Wednesday's Quinnipiac poll found that likely voters believe Biden would do a better job than Trump at handling racial inequality, the country's coronavirus response, health care and a crisis in general.
Methodology: 1,081 self-identified likely voters were surveyed over landlines and cellphones from Aug. 28-31, with a margin of error of ± 3.8 percentage points, in Quinnipiac's poll. The adult sample is weighted to recent Census data to match the demographic makeup of the U.S. population.
