Poll shows Americans agree with Biden, view Trump as threat to democracy

But many Americans still worry that efforts to fight Trumpism are divisive

President Joe Biden believes that Donald Trump and his allies in the GOP are a threat to the country, and democracy. According to a new poll, a majority of Americans agree.

The findings came in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, published on Thursday.

In the survey, 58 per cent of Americans agreed with the statement that Donald Trump and his ongoing efforts to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election are dangerous and a threat to the rule of law.

About the same amount of Americans, registering at 59 per cent, believe that President Joe Biden’s recent speech calling out Mr Trump and Trumpism as threats “will further divide” the United States.

The poll’s findings depict the perplexing reality that the Biden White House faces every day. President Biden ran for president as a uniter, and constantly faces pressure from the media to live up to that label. But at the same time, former president Donald Trump continues to insist that he actually won the 2020 election, and should be reinstated as president — an unprecedented claim and demand that, on its face, threatens Americans’ trust in the electoral system.

What Thursday’s poll results reveal is that Joe Biden can’t call out that very basic fact without being seen as attacking Republicans.

Somewhat confusingly, however, a majority of poll respondents — the strongest majority of any finding in the poll — agreed that the “Maga” movement does not represent all or even a majority of Republicans.

Mr Biden’s own approval ratings also languished underwater in the poll. 39 per cent of respondents said they favoured his job performance as president.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed results from 1,003 adults living in the US: 411 Democrats, 397 Republicans, and 195 independents. The credibility interval of the poll is four percentage points.