New battleground-state polling says that when it comes to a thus-far hypothetical battle against marauding extraterrestrials, voters want Donald Trump as their leader over Kamala Harris — and they prefer him to handle the very real conflicts on Earth too.
The Institute for Global Affairs surveyed “a nationally representative sample” of Americans but focused on some Rust Belt voters (in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan) and Sun Belt voters (in Georgia, Arizona Nevada), asking their views on some out-of-this-world topics.
Whereas voters nationally are split evenly on whether Harris or Trump would “effectively lead an international response to an invasion of earth from aliens from outer space,” the battleground electorate is more enthusiastic about the Republican if Earth ends up under intergalactic assault.
Rust Belt voters, by a spread of 55% to 45%, think Trump can handle the job. Sun Belt voters are almost as sold, with 53% believing Trump is best equipped to handle the little green men from outer space.
Two singular states given a spotlight here back up this read.
In Pennsylvania, part of the Rust Belt, 54% of respondents think Trump is the man to handle an invasion from another planet.
Georgia voters express the most confidence that Harris could repel the invasion of our planet. But Trump still has the majority there on this question: 52% to 48%.
While the prospect of alien invasion likely won’t turn this election (unless that’s the ultimate October surprise), it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter to people. Recent reporting shows New Yorkers worried about potential UFOs just two weeks ago and Californians claiming alien spacecraft were zigzagging over the Golden State in August.
The survey here wasn’t solely concerned with extraplanetary scenarios, though, and it indicates the former president is better positioned on normal international-affairs issues in the Rust Belt and Sun Belt than Harris, a salient point given the realities of the Electoral College and the 77 votes at stake in these states.
While 53% of voters nationally trust Harris more than Trump on foreign policy, for example, 53% of voters in the six states surveyed here actually think Trump is better.
On Gaza, Ukraine, and dealing with a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan, 58% of voters in battlegrounds trust him more, IGA notes, suggesting a swing-state comfort level with the former president that could come in clutch in November.
“The path to the White House runs through states where voters are deeply skeptical of the foreign policy status quo and America’s global footprint,” said Mark Hannah, senior fellow with IGA, contextualizing the results.
