Biden and Trump Neck and Neck in Latest Reuters Poll

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are tied in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, each with 40% support among registered voters. This follows a debatedly poor debate performance by Biden. The poll highlights significant voter uncertainty and both candidates' vulnerabilities, with Biden's age and Trump's criminal conviction being notable factors.

U.S. President Joe Biden pulled even with his Republican challenger Donald Trump this week in the race to win the November election, a sign the contest remains close even after a widely panned debate performance by the Democrat, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Biden and Trump each had 40% support among registered voters in the two-day poll that concluded on Tuesday. A prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 11-12 showed Trump with a marginal 2 percentage point lead, 41% to 39%.

The two faced off in a televised debate last Thursday, where Biden stammered throughout and failed to challenge Trump's attacks. The new Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that, following the debate, about one-in-three Democrats think Biden should drop out of the race, something he has pledged not to do. The poll, which gathered responses online and nationwide from 1,070 U.S. adults, had a 3.5 percentage point margin of error for registered voters, many of whom remain on the fence with about four months left before the Nov. 5 election. One in five registered voters said that they weren't sure for whom to vote, that they would pick a different candidate or that they would not vote at all.

The latest poll did not include a question on support for independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. The June poll found that 10% of registered voters would back him if he appeared on the ballot. While nationwide surveys give important signals on American support for political candidates, just a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the U.S. Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election.

Both candidates carry significant liabilities. For Biden, these include concerns about his age - 81 - that were magnified by his debate performance. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 83% of Democrats and 97% of Republicans agreed with a statement that in the debate, "Biden stumbled and appeared to show his age." Only 58% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans had the same assessment of Trump's debate performance.

Trump, 78, in May became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, whether in office or after leaving the White House. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September and faces potential prison time after a jury found him guilty of 34 charges stemming from a hush money payment to an adult film actress before the 2016 presidential election.

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