F&M Stories

In a one-on-one matchup, Democratic President Joe Biden leads Republican challenger Donald Trump by 10 points, 48% to 38%, but Biden’s advantage drops to 42% to 40% among Pennsylvania voters with third-party candidates added to the mix. 

“I think this race is going to be really hard to predict for a long time because so many people don’t like either candidate and because a lot of people are looking for an alternative,” said Berwood Yost, director of the poll and the College’s Center for Opinion Research.

Two of the leading third-party candidates, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Jill Stein, are supported by 9% and 3% of voters, respectively, according to the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, conducted March 20-31.

The Center surveyed 870 registered Pennsylvania voters—390 Democrats, 356 Republicans and 124 independents.

Since the last F&M Poll in January, Biden and Trump have swept nearly all their primaries. The only exception was Washington, D.C., which Trump lost to Republican challenger Nikki Haley, who has since dropped out of the race.

For the first time in the poll, voters were asked several questions about democracy. One question asked: “If you had to choose between living in a country with fair, competitive elections where your party governs about half the time or living in a country with unfair, non-competitive elections where your party governs all the time, which would you choose?” 

In response, 93% supported competitive elections, 2% did not and 5% did not know.

Visit F&M Poll’s Key Findings for the complete poll results and analysis of voters’ sentiments on the latest issues and job approval ratings of elected officials.