Presidential Polling

2000-2023 | 23 years

Throughout this episode, the staff is worrying about an upcoming poll. They spend the episode speculating about what the results will be and how they will share the news with the press. This episode is one of many where polling is a central theme.

The importance of polling depicted in The West Wing is true to real life, where polling often has a great importance. This can be seen in regards to a Times/Sienna poll that came out this week. The poll had former President Trump ahead of President Biden. There are 6 swing states which will be extremely influential in determining the outcome of the 2020 election. And the results that came out of these states were not good for President Biden

These Results included:

• Over 60% of those in swing states feel that the country is going in the wrong direction

• In all the swing states but Wisconsin (where Biden is ahead of Trump within the margin of error), voters prefer Trump to Biden outside of the margin of error

• In a hypothetical matchup between President Biden and a Republican Candidate who isn’t Trump, the Republican candidate is over 10 points up on President Biden

• Around 60% of people in Swing States disapprove of President Biden’s job performance

• About 70% of people in these states think that President Biden is too old to do his job effectively

Because these results are so bad for President Biden, this has caused many democrats to worry about the 2024 election if President Biden remains the democratic nominee. Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal both came out with concerns about President Biden’s candidacy and key Democratic strategists David Axelrod and James Carville said that President Biden should consider dropping out of the race.