Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the two-day poll – including one in four Republicans – said Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement threatens America’s democratic foundations.
Mr. Biden’s September 1 speech marked a turning point in his efforts to boost Democrats in the November 8 midterm elections, when Republicans aim to take control of the US Congress.
Speaking in Pennsylvania, a key election battleground, Biden urged readers to reject Trump and extremism. Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, responded by calling Biden a divider.
The poll underscores the highly polarized state of American politics.
Fifty-nine percent of those polled said Biden’s speech will further divide the country, although about half of those polled said they did not watch or follow the speech at all.
While Trump remains popular among Republicans, his rating within the party has suffered since a mob of his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to block lawmakers from certifying Biden’s election victory.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that 60% of Republicans don’t think Trump’s MAGA movement represents the majority of the party.
Biden’s own approval ratings remain low, despite a string of recent legislative achievements. Just 39% of those polled said they approved of Biden’s performance as president, a level not far off the lowest levels recorded by Trump during his presidency.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online in English across the United States, collected responses from 1,003 adults, including 411 Democrats and 397 Republicans. It has a credibility interval – a measure of precision – of four percentage points.