WASHINGTON — More than 4 in 10 Pennsylvania voters still harbor doubts that the 2020 presidential election was fairly conducted and that President Joe Biden received more votes than former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

The Muhlenberg College survey, released Tuesday, showed how Trump's false claims of a stolen election continue to resonate among Republicans just months before the next presidential election in the most populous battleground state — despite no evidence of any significant voter fraud. House Republicans and lawyers for Trump sought to overturn the state's election, which Biden won.

"It's a major backdrop to this election cycle," said Christopher Borick, director of the college's Institute of Public Opinion. "Of course, that comes from messaging from the top of the Republican Party and the top of the Republican Party is Donald Trump."

The poll gave Trump a 3-point lead, 44% to 41%, in a head-to-head matchup with Biden, well within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points. With third-party candidates, Trump and Biden are tied at 35% with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 18%.

And U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., led former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, 45% to 41%, also within the poll's margin of error. The survey of 417 registered voters was taken April 15-25.

The Biden campaign announced Wednesday that it would spend another $14 million on advertising in Pennsylvania and other battleground states, focusing on health care, including ads targeting Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters.

Trump has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which covers 371,516 Pennsylvanians, and nominated three of the six U.S. Supreme Court justices that overturned the right to abortion.

As part of their effort, Biden campaign officials said they would reach out to the 155,000 Republicans who voted for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Pennsylvania primary on April 23, more than a month since she dropped out the presidential race.

"We are not taking any voters for granted," said Quentin Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager for Biden's re-election campaign. "We are showing up in communities every day."

Trump railed against the 2020 election over the weekend at the Republican National Committee spring meeting and donor retreat at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

...continued

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.