97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.

Every other Monday, Aaron is joined at 8:30 a.m. by Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling, for a longstanding regular segment called “What We’re Thinking,” looking at recent survey numbers and discussing what they tell us about American public opinion – election-related and otherwise.

This week, Tom discusses how Americans are responding to the nationwide campus protests, and how it might affect the November election.

In general, public opinion is against the demonstrations – no surprise, because Americans historically have typically been opposed to protests while they’re actively ongoing. Digging further into the numbers: Republicans are fairly united in opposition to the protests, while Democrats are narrowly in favor but much more divided. There’s also a clear generational gap: younger Americans are in favor of the demonstrations, while older Americans are against them.

How might all this affect the November election? Tom says the public reaction is hurting Joe Biden, who’s now trailing Donald Trump by a slightly wider margin in key districts. But the overall dynamic of the election remains the same: Biden is suffering not because he’s losing voters to Trump, but because a larger percentage of his base now says they’re undecided. If Biden can win back those undecided voters, he’d still be in good shape – but that’s a slightly taller order now.

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