Dial Meter Reactions to Biden and Trump’s Acceptance Speeches

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech was more impactful and defining than was Donald Trump’s — though each barely moved Trump’s job approval ratings or the winning margins in the race. Biden and Trump got comparable and modest vote shifts after their DNC and RNC acceptance speeches — neither big enough to change race’s structure. The contest, as you will see in the polling between and during the conventions, is very locked into current the structure. 

On behalf of the Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center, Democracy Corps on August 20th and 27th, 2020, conducted online dial meter research during Vice President Joe Biden’s acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President and President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech for the Republican nomination, among 210 registered voters nationally. Key line groups include African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, white millennials, white unmarried women, white working-class women, white college women, and white working-class men.