Polling Angst: CNN Poll Shows Trump Rising Battleground States But CNN Warns Viewers Against Trusting Its Own Poll

New polling shows President Donald Trump rising in battleground states.  The polling has frustrated some, particularly at CNN where viewers were told not to put much stake in its own polling. CNN conducted a poll that showed that Trump had a seven-point lead over Joe Biden in some battleground states with 52 percent over 45 percent for Biden.  On “CNN Newsroom” John King cautioned viewers not to “overinvest” in CNN’s own polling.  The polls do not fit the narrative of a president who is tanking due to his mishandling of the pandemic.  Other polls are showing Trump rising and even leading in states like Ohio.  I actually agree with King that we should be leery of all polls as demonstrated by 2016. It is just the caution on this poll that seems a tad out of the norm.

King warned viewers “Be careful not to invest too much in any one poll, especially in the middle of a pandemic.”  That seems like relying on hope over polling.

There is also an interesting poll out of Rasmussen Reports which has tended to show figures more favorable to President Donald Trump. While Trump appears to be rising in some polls and still holds remarkably high support and enthusiasm numbers among Republicans, roughly one-in-four GOP voters would prefer someone else to be their nominee. The polls contradicts the narrative that the GOP is a cult of personality.  Many of these voters would still support Trump on his policies, but 23 percent would like to see someone else.  That is still less than the 28 percent of Democratic voters who would like to see someone other than former Vice President Joe Biden.

Notably, 70 percent disagree and only 7 percent are undecided. Those are pretty hardened numbers.

Both Republican women and younger Republicans are more likely to want to see another nominee.

It is equally interesting to see that, while Trump has received low approval numbers for his handling of the pandemic, Biden is not surging and actually failing behind Trump in some battleground states.  Some polls show Biden leading by as many as six points but that is a sprint distance for a presidential election, as shown by Hillary Clinton. In other words, this is a very weird election and it is getting weirder.