Independent voters leaning toward voting for Trump, NYT focus group finds

WASHINGTON (TND) — Independent voters are unenthusiastic about their options at the top of the ticket as they are faced with two of the most unpopular presidents in recent history as the likely matchup once they head to the ballot box.

President Joe Biden is not facing a serious primary challenger and former President Donald Trump appears to be steamrolling toward being the Republican nominee based on national and state-level polling after two primary elections, indicating voters will have a rematch of the 2020 election that was closely decided in a handful of swing states.

Voters have been dreading that exact scenario for months, with a majority of Americans in both political parties and independents regularly telling pollsters that they do not want either of them to be president again.

The New York Times conducted a focus group with 13 undecided, independent voters about the two leading candidates and what issues are most important to them for the upcoming election. Nearly all of them were most concerned about the economy and inflation and said they would base their vote on those issues. Eleven of them said they were leaning toward voting for Trump.