Biden vs. Trump remains close, so next week's debate offers them an opportunity

The presidential election remains essentially tied as President Biden and former President Donald Trump prepare for their first televised debate next week.

According to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, out Tuesday, Biden and Trump both received 49% support among registered voters nationally. That includes undecided voters who are leaning toward one candidate. The survey had a margin of error of nearly 4 percentage points.

That’s relatively unchanged since last month’s poll.

Lee Miringoff — director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey — said most voters have decided who they will vote for in the presidential election.

However, 9% of voters polled said they haven’t yet made up their mind who they’ll vote for. And another 25% said they have a “good idea” who they would vote for, but “could still change [their] mind.”

“I think that this to some degree taps into the notion that there are still a lot of months to go,” Miringoff said.

The first of two planned presidential debates is on June 27, and 6 in 10 survey respondents said they plan to watch it. Because the debates and party conventions have yet to happen, Miringoff said voters are more likely to tell pollsters that they are open to seeing “how things play out.”

“That’s even if they do end up right back where they were,” he said, “because they interpret these events in ways that reinforce what they already think.”

In particular, the poll found younger voters and nonwhite voters were more likely than other groups to say their vote could change. Among both groups, just about 55% said they know for sure who they’re voting for.

The poll also found that Biden is making some inroads among independent voters. Biden’s support among