Aspiration Poll Finds Wide Popular Vote Lead for Joe Biden, Tossups in Key Swing States, Strong Support for Green Banking
Biden leads Trump by 2% in Florida and Pennsylvania and 4% in Georgia; Generational Split in Trump Coalition Over the Climate Crisis
As the 2020 campaign draws to a close, Americans are about to hand a landslide popular victory to former Vice President Joe Biden even while key swing states are too close to call. At the same time, a sizable portion of voters in both parties are concerned about the climate crisis and ready to make the move to green banking.
These were the findings of a presidential poll commissioned by Aspiration, Americans’ socially-conscious, sustainable financial partner. In a national online poll of 700 voters who are very likely to vote or have already voted conducted on October 30 and 31, Joe Biden held a nine percent (48 percent to 39 percent) lead over President Donald Trump, consistent with a similar lead in other polls during the same time period (MOE +/- 3.7%, results weighted by demographic factors).
The poll found that slightly over two-thirds of this universe of voters has already voted. This finding is in line with voting patterns (Pre-Election Day vote surpasses two-thirds of all 2016 ballots cast, November 1, CNN). Of that two-third, two-thirds (67 percent) cast their vote for Biden. In the remaining third, Trump leads by 61 percent to 39 percent.
However, separate Aspiration polls in key swing states found tightly fought contests heading down to the wire. In Florida and Pennsylvania, Biden led by two percent (45 percent to 43 percent and 51 to 49 percent, respectively) while in Georgia, Biden led by four percent (52 percent to 48 percent). The polls of Florida (517 voters), Pennsylvania (340 voters), and Georgia (380 voters) voters who were very likely to vote or had already voted were conducted between October 30 and November 1.
The same Aspiration polls found that climate change had become a top issue for American voters. Sixty percent of these voters stated it was an important issue to them with 43 percent calling it “very important.”
Though there is a partisan split, it is not as large as debates among politicians would lead one to believe. Among Biden voters, 84 percent believe climate change is an important issue with 65 percent calling it “very important.” However, even though Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and stated even this year that he believes temperatures will soon start to cool, 28 percent of Trump voters believe climate change is an important issue—with more than half of that group calling it “very important.”
This fissure in the Trump coalition is driven in large part by younger voters. Among Trump voters, 18 to 34 years of age, 44 percent believe climate change is an important issue with nearly twice as many of them citing it as “very important” as among Trump voters overall.
This concern over climate change is driving a nascent Clean Money revolution. While 67 percent of voters did not know that “big banks use their customers' deposits to fund oil and gas projects,” 39 percent of all voters said they’d be likely to move their “money to an account that never uses customer deposits to fund oil and gas”—a greater percentage than that represented by the combined market share of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase, the three largest banks in America that collectively have lent over $450 billion of their customers’ money to oil and gas projects since Trump was elected.
While that excitement over green finance was most pronounced among Biden voters (51 percent likely), a large 21 percent of Trump voters (39 percent of Trump voters under 35 years old) stated they would be likely to move to fossil fuel funding-free banking.
National Poll Full Results, 700 voters who already voted or were very likely to vote, October 30 and 31, 2020
In the 2020 election for president, for whom did you vote? (asked of stated they had already voted):
Donald Trump: 33%
Joe Biden: 67%
In the 2020 election for president, for whom are you likely to vote? (asked of those who stated they were “very likely” to vote)
Donald Trump: 59%
Joe Biden: 41%
How important is the issue of climate change? (1-Not at all important, 5-Very important)
All voters
Unimportant: 12%
Somewhat unimportant: 7%
Neutral: 21%
Somewhat important: 17%
Very important: 43%
Trump voters
Unimportant: 29%
Somewhat unimportant: 14%
Neutral: 30%
Somewhat important: 13%
Very important: 15%
Biden voters
Unimportant: 1%
Somewhat unimportant: 2%
Neutral: 13%
Somewhat important: 19%
Very important: 65%
Did you know that big banks use their customers' deposits to fund oil and gas projects?
Yes: 35%
No: 65%
How likely would you be to move your money to an account that never uses customer deposits to fund oil and gas?
Unlikely: 20%
Somewhat unlikely: 8%
Neutral: 33%
Somewhat likely: 15%
Very likely: 24%
For more information about how Aspiration is helping save the planet through responsible and ethical finance, visit Aspiration.com. Join the conversation and connect with the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Results for this Aspiration poll are based on an online poll conducted Oct. 30-31, with a random sample of 700 U.S. adults, aged 18 and older. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ± 3.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
About Aspiration:
Aspiration is the first socially-conscious, sustainable neobank built to help everyone spend, save, and invest to both “Do Well” and “Do Good.” By bringing quality, ethical, and sustainable financial products to all, Aspiration is on a mission to revolutionize the financial industry and change it for the better. Aspiration Partners, Inc. is a certified B Corp. Headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA. For more information, visit Aspiration.com.