Lisa Desjardins:
Truth is such a core part of this. And we wanted to ask voters and Americans what they think about how Donald Trump speaks.
So let’s look at this. When Donald Trump speaks, 31 percent of people that we polled who are definitely planning to vote, 31 percent said they believe he’s speaking mostly the truth; 34 percent say he’s speaking mostly falsehoods. Now, that — you’re doing the math.
Those in the middle that we don’t put there are those who say sometimes it’s some of each. But this is interesting on the two polls, that we think a third of Americans from this who are voting believe he speaks mostly the truth.
If you look at this more in depth, you see a gender gap. Men are the ones who are most likely to believe what former President Trump says. And look at that. Women, 45 percent of women overall believe he speaks mostly falsehoods, that he does tell lies.
Now, one other thing, how about strengthening democracy or not? Look at this. We asked voters — these are definite voters — what they think about President Trump and President Biden. They felt, 38 percent, that former President Trump is someone who would strengthen democracy if he’s reelected. Look at that, President Biden, 35 percent would likely strengthen democracy.
This is a tricky number because a lot of voters who answered this poll believe that President Biden would keep things as it was. But we wanted to raise this because it shows many voters, definite voters, believe that Trump would strengthen democracy. More believe he would weaken it. But there is a significant core out there that believes he would strengthen it.
