Trump leads Biden 54% to 42% among independent voters nationwide: NPR/PBS/Marist poll

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that 54 percent of independent voters said they would cast their ballot for Trump, while 42 percent said they would vote for Biden.

Despite this lead, however, Trump trailed Biden in the head-to-head matchup by just 2 points among registered voters, at 50 to 48 percent. This small lead for Biden comes as 92 percent of Democrat voters said they would vote for Biden, while 90 percent of GOP voters said they would vote for Trump.

Trump does, however, hold a lead over Biden when third-party candidates are included. Trump received 44 percent support compared to Biden’s 40 percent, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s eight percent, Cornel West’s two percent, and Jill Stein’s three percent.

Biden takes a bigger hit among his own party when third-party candidates are included, with 82 percent of Democrats voting for him compared to 88 percent of GOP voters who said they would vote for Trump.

44 percent of independent voters said they would vote for Trump in the five-way race, while 28 percent said they would vote for Biden. RFK Jr received the next highest support among the voting group, with 17 percent saying they would cast their ballots for him.

Notably, in the five-way race Trump and Biden are tied for non-white support at 41 percent. Trump also received more Gen Z/Millennial votes in the five-way race compared to Biden (40-34 percent) as well as Gen X votes (49-43 percent).

The poll also found that 15 percent of independent voters said they would be more likely to vote for Trump in November if he is found guilty in the New York City trial, compared to 11 percent who said that they would be less likely to vote for him. An additional 74 percent said that the verdict would not affect their decision.

The poll was conducted between May 21 and 23 of 1,122 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.