CNN, along with its polling partner SSRS, surveyed 1,132 registered voters in Pennsylvania to find that the presidential race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is not only within the margin of error – it’s even.

Each candidate received 46 percent support from the respondents in a survey taken March 13-18.

The numbers shifted a bit with the addition of more candidates, especially Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who garnered 16 percent support, while Trump edged ahead of Biden, 40-38.

• Topline / Crosstabs

Job Performance

Forty percent of those surveyed approved of the way Biden is handling his job as president, including 44 percent of the female respondents and 62 percent of those voters of color. Older voters (65+) also signaled their satisfaction (51%) as did those with a college degree (46%).

This could signal that Biden is keeping his coalition intact during the early stages of the campaign.

Important Issues

The economy continues to be the most important issue among Pennsylvanians (38%), according to the survey. Less than 1 in 4 (23%) said protecting democracy was important as they decide how to vote for president, while 15% indicated immigration.

Interestingly, the democracy question was more important to those over 65 (33%) than the economy (30%). Among women, abortion and reproductive rights came in a distant third (18%) on the priority list behind the economy (36%) and protecting democracy (21%).

Favorability

Biden remains underwater in the opinion numbers with 38% having a favorable opinion and 58% going the opposite way. Among voters of color, however, the president has a plus-22 margin (54-32), while older voters (65+) also have a plus opinion (52-47).

While non-college whites have Biden well underwater at -38 (30-68), the president’s rating is even lower among 18-34 year-olds at minus-42 (23-69).

Trump’s overall favorability is minus-16 (40-56) and lower among women (-24) and voters of color (-46). Non-college graduates are split on their opinion (48-48), while those with a degree are not, giving him a minus-40 (29-69) rating.

While Kennedy is above water overall at plus-7 (36-29), he is more popular among women (+15) and voters of color (+19).

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is viewed favorably by 33% of respondents with just 1 in 4 holding an unfavorable opinion. Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed had no opinion either way, while 15% said they had never heard of the three-term senator.

His GOP opponent for the seat, David McCormick, was minus-4 (13-17) with 44 percent of the respondents indicating they had never head of him, including over half of those (51%) under the age of 45.

Handling the Issues

Respondents said that Trump would better handle the economy is elected by a 49-35 count – a number that rises to +23 (32-55) among men but falls to -24 (54-30) among voters of color.

Trump also received higher marks on immigration, 49-31, with whites raising the margin to +27 (54-27) and voters of color switching favorites to Biden (51-28).

The president is the slight choice on the question of protecting democracy (45-40) with whites and men opting for Trump (44-40) and voters of color resoundingly in Biden’s corner (70-19).

Biden is also the choice by a plus-14 margin on who would better handle abortion policies. Women give him a 21-point advantage (50-29) and voters of color are even more supportive (68-17). Only white non-college respondents gave the nod to Trump (43-35).

Miscellaneous

More than half (52%) of those who responded to the survey indicated they were dissatisfied with the candidates they have to choose from for president. Nearly 3 in 5 (58%) voters of color, however, said they were satisfied with their options.

Almost 7 in 10 said they were confident that the votes in Pennsylvania will be counted accurately in this year’s election.

Eighty percent of those surveyed indicated that their mind was made p about who they will vote for in the presidential race, including nine in 10 of those 65 and older. Among the 18-34 crowd, just 68 percent has made their determination, pointing to a push for their campaigns to court the younger vote.

Only 20 percent of those 18-34 said that Biden’s “sharpness and stamina” were adequate for the job, while 49 percent of those 65 and older and 57 percent of voters of color agreed with the question.

A large majority of respondents feel that a second Trump term would “fundamentally change things in the United States, while 56 percent think the same of a second Biden term.

A total of 1,132 registered voters who live in Pennsylvania were surveyed online and by telephone from a registra8on-based sample purchased by SSRS from L2. Sampled voters were invited to participate in the study through multiple contact methods, including a mailed postcard, SMS (text-message) invitation in collaboration with Survey160 to sample who had a cell phone number on file, email invitations to those with an email address on file, and multiple telephone call attempts to voters with a telephone number on file. Upon receipt of the postcard, sampled voters could complete the survey online (including by scanning a QR code on mobile devices) or by calling into a toll-free number. All respondents were screened for age, state of residence, and voter registra8on status prior to administering the survey. Respondents who said they were under 18, living outside of Pennsylvania, or not registered to vote were excluded from the survey. Surveys were conducted in English. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.