Who would benefit under a Trump or Harris presidency? What voters said in a new poll
Voters believe certain groups stand to reap benefits — and suffer drawbacks — depending on who wins the presidential election, according to new polling.
The latest Pew Research Center poll found that voters were more likely to say Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies would help women, racial minorities, union members and the poor compared to former President Donald Trump’s policies.
In contrast, voters were more likely to say the Republican candidate’s policies would advantage men, white people, military veterans and the wealthy.
Predictably, the responses were largely divided along partisan lines, with Harris supporters being more likely to say her policies would improve conditions across demographic groups and Trump supporters saying the same about his policies.
A substantial share of voters also said things likely would not change much for many demographic groups under both a Harris and Trump presidency.
The poll, conducted between Aug. 26 and Sept. 2, surveyed 9,720 people, including 8,044 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 1.3 percentage points.
Whom would a Harris presidency help?
Nearly half of registered voters, 49%, said Harris’ policies would make things better for women — the demographic group that most voters said would stand to benefit. Meanwhile, 27% said her policies would make things worse for women and 23% said it would not change things much.
Similarly, 42% of voters said Harris’ policies would improve conditions for poor people, while 34% said they would make things worse and 24% said they wouldn’t make much difference.
About the same share, 41%, said her policies would make things better for Black people, with 38% saying the same for Hispanic people. For both groups, 27% of voters said Harris’ policies would make things worse.
Thirty-eight percent of voters also said the vice president’s policies would improve conditions for union members, while 27% said it would make things worse.
In contrast, 39% of voters said her policies would worsen conditions for people living in rural areas —the group that most voters said would be disadvantaged. Twenty-six percent of voters said her policies would benefit them, while 34% said they wouldn’t affect them much either way.
Similarly, 36% of voters said Harris’ policies would worsen conditions for veterans, white people and men. Meanwhile, 30%, 20% and 19% of voters, respectively, said they would benefit these groups.
Thirty-four percent of voters said her policies would make things worse for wealthy people, while 19% said they would make them better. Nearly half, 46%, said things wouldn’t change much for them, making it the group that voters were most likely to say wouldn’t be affected.
Whom would a Trump presidency help?
A decisive majority of voters, 67%, said Trump’s policies would make things better for wealthy people — the largest single share found in the poll. In contrast, just 5% said they would make things worse for the group, while 28% said they wouldn’t make much difference.
Nearly half of voters, 49%, said his policies would improve conditions for white people, while 13% said they would worsen them, and 38% said they wouldn’t have a large impact.
Similarly, 45% of voters said Trump’s policies would benefit men and veterans, while 17% and 30%, respectively, said they would make things worse.
In contrast, 46% of voters said they believed his policies would make conditions worse for women. Thirty percent said they would make things better, and 23% said they wouldn’t make much of a difference.
Similarly, 45% said his policies would worsen things for poor people, while 38% said they would make things better.
When asked about Black and Hispanic people, 42% and 45%, respectively, said Trump’s policies would make things worse. Thirty-three and 31% said they would make things better.
This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Who would benefit under a Trump or Harris presidency? What voters said in a new poll."