Last week, The New York Times released a report containing information obtained from President Trump’s tax returns through 2017. The report stated that the President had paid $750 in federal income taxes during his first year in the White House.
The latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds that two in five voters (42%) don’t think the story will affect the election. Only three in ten think it will benefit Joe Biden.
Biden's own supporters are more optimistic; 46% think the news will make more people vote for their candidate. Just 11% of Trump supporters say the same.
Seven in ten voters say they feel angry if this is all the president has paid in tax – although Democrats (88%) and Independents (64%) are much more likely to find themselves furious, than Republicans (12%).
This emotional gulf could be down to the fact that few Republicans believe the story in the first place. As many as 56% of GOP voters consider the NYT's claims to be false.
The electorate as a whole buys the story, however, by 54% to 29%. Most Democrats (82%) believe the claims to be true, as do a plurality of Independent voters (41%).
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 registered voters interviewed online between October 4–6, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 4.5% for the overall sample.
Image: Getty
