By Tom Bonier On September 18th, voting will begin in the 2020 general election. On that date, a few states will allow voters to begin casting their ballots. From that point onward, more and more states will open early and mail balloting. Every single state and the District of Columbia will afford some number of voters the opportunity to vote before Election Day, [...]

In 2016, Trump only carried PA by 44,292 votes out of 6 million cast – a margin of just 0.7%. Since then 961,106 people have registered to vote in the Keystone state. Here’s what we know about citizens who have registered since 2016: New voters are disproportionately young and Democratic. Since 2016, 44% of new registrants are Democrats, compared to [...]

Democratic Voter Registration Advantage in GOP ‘Convention’ States of Florida and North Carolina By Tom Bonier Donald Trump was supposed to hold his convention this week in North Carolina, and then in Florida, in an effort to boost voter turnout and generate enthusiasm among his supporters in those states. Well, his convention didn’t go as planned and neither have Republicans’ [...]

The GOP’s Claims About a Voter Registration Advantage in PA Aren’t True. Here are the Facts.  By Tom Bonier  As Joe Biden prepares to address the nation as the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump is attempting to steal the spotlight with his own speech outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It’s no surprise the Trump campaign chose this location. Pennsylvania is a must [...]

The composition of the electorate may be more fluid this cycle than any presidential election in recent memory. The combination of the global pandemic and the historic protests in response to the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have had a profound impact on most aspects of our lives. The question remains: how have these events [...]

The entirety of the Trump presidency has been marked by uncertainty and volatility for our country, exponentially more so during the coronavirus pandemic. As we focused our efforts on understanding how a pandemic which has seen people of color impacted more severely than white Americans, the creation of an economic recession, and an inspiring movement for racial justice and equality [...]

The pandemic will have had a profound impact on this year’s election. TargetSmart is committed to studying how the pandemic has impacted voters’ views on voting and we are keeping a close eye on how it is affecting the electorate more broadly. Earlier this year, we saw a significant voter registration surge compared to the same time in the 2016 cycle. As the pandemic [...]

As part of a national study of public opinion on the public health and economic dimensions of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on voting and elections, TargetSmart and Dynata conducted a Georgia-specific oversample to measure voter sentiment as the state reopens its economy. Toplines, crosstabs, and a full statement on the poll’s methodology can be found by visiting insights.targetsmart.com. Georgia Voters Overwhelmingly Support [...]

Though concern about the coronavirus seems to both be abating slightly and becoming more polarized by partisanship in recent weeks, American voters are souring on President Trump’s handling of the crisis and coalescing around the idea that we will not be getting back to normal life any time soon. At the same time, despite Trump’s attempts to inject partisanship [...]