April 26, 2021: Given a choice between four presidential candidates with equal skills and temperament, 31% would prefer a candidate who supported policies like those of President Donald Trump. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 24% would like a candidate who supported policies like those of Senator Bernie Sanders; 20% favor a traditional Democrat; and, 15% favor a traditional Republican.[1]
Scott Rasmussen has been asking this question regularly since last October. Despite the election results and everything that has happened since, these attitudes have remained remarkably stable.[1][2]
These numbers show 46% favoring one of the Republican-leaning options, while 44% prefer a Democratic-leaning set of policies. In every update of the survey, the partisan split has remained essentially even. That’s not surprising given that we have had nine consecutive presidential elections where neither candidate has received more than 53% of the vote. It’s the longest such stretch in American history.[1]
On the Republican side, the number preferring Trump-like policies is consistently two to three times as large as the number favoring traditional GOP policies. However, younger GOP-leaning voters are more evenly divided.[1]
On the other hand, the two wings of the Democratic party are just about evenly divided.[1]
Urban voters strongly support one of the Democratic options. Those in the suburbs lean towards one of the Republican options, while rural voters prefer the GOP.[1]
Those favoring populist policies (Trump or Sanders) consistently outnumber those favoring more traditional policies. This week, the numbers show 55% favoring populist policies, while 35% prefer a more traditional approach.[1]
Footnotes:
- ScottRasmussen.com, "31% Prefer a Candidate Pursuing Trump-Like Policies," April 20, 2021
- Political IQ, "'Never Trumpers' are key to Biden’s Lead in the polls," October 19, 2020
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author. Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author. Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read Scott Rasmussen's Reports — More Here.
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