by Chris White
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s favorability rating is dropping among women amid an increase in media coverage of Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations, a national poll found Tuesday.
Biden’s net favorability rating among women slid 6 points since April, leaving the former vice president with a 44% positive and 46% negative rating, according to a Morning Consult poll published Tuesday.
The survey is the first time Morning Consult has shown the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee underwater among women.
The poll, conducted between May 4 and May 10, surveyed 27,754 people online as the media began ramping up stories on Reade’s accusations. The survey also has a 1 percentage point margin of error.
Reade accused the former vice president of sexually assaulting her when she was Biden’s Senate aide in 1993. Several witnesses began corroborating her allegations on April, 24, 25 and 27.
Reade’s mother, her brother, her close friend, her former neighbor and her former coworker have all corroborated details of her story. Biden, for his part, denied the accusations, telling MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski on May 1 that “it never, never happened.”
Despite the negative numbers, women still supported Biden over President Donald Trump by 8 points in the poll.
The poll also found Biden losing steam among voters in general as he pulls in 45% support nationally, against 42% for Trump. Morning Consult conducted a similar poll in mid-April that found the former vice president ahead by 8 points.
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Chris White is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
