OPINION | Biden is not popular. His policies are popular.

Biden’s policies were an undoubted winner.

Of the 28 Biden proposals YouGov asked about, 27 had more supporters than opponents. Surprisingly, 24 received support from more than 50% of respondents.

Biden’s most popular policy proposal is requiring criminal and mental health checks for gun purchases — an idea supported by 82% of respondents, including 70% of voters who identify as Trump supporters. Biden’s least popular idea — the only one of the 28 candidates to not act — was a promise to provide military assistance to Ukraine for 10 years in its war with Russia (supported by just 30%). this.)

Meanwhile, Trump’s policies are far worse: Of the 28 major proposals YouGov asked about, only nine received at least majority support (more supporters than opponents). Even more disappointing, only six were supported by a majority of respondents.

Trump’s most popular idea was to phase out imports of essential goods from China over the next four years, with 59 percent support. The least popular was giving the president control over independent regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Only 19 percent supported this proposal, as did only 27 percent of self-identified Trump supporters. (It makes you wonder why voters would be opposed to this. Is it because one of the candidates wants to be a dictator on “day one”?)

The contrast in favorability of the rival policies is particularly striking when viewed side-by-side. largely Popular policies are just as popular as Biden’s policies. Even if only slightly Popular stuff.

To be clear, a policy’s popularity is not necessarily evidence of its merits (if I believed this, I’d probably be in a different business not trying to change people’s minds), but this pattern is noteworthy, especially given that voters have a lackluster impression of the Biden brand both in general and on specific policies.

Biden has the lowest approval ratings for the presidency and has lagged Trump in public opinion polls for months. Surprisingly, voters perceive him as inferior on many issues that, by the very nature of his thinking, should be his strong suit. Strengths.

For example, recent polls have found that voters trust Trump more than Biden when it comes to guns and gun violence. But YouGov data shows that voters prefer Biden’s approach on gun policy, which includes requiring background checks for all gun purchases (also his most popular idea) as well as banning the sale of assault rifles. Meanwhile, one of Trump’s most visible gun-related proposals (arming teachers) is rejected by a majority of his supporters.

Similarly, Trump trumps Biden on abstract issues like the economy and taxes, but when you look at what the two have proposed in these areas, Biden’s ideas (higher taxes on billionaires, raising the minimum wage) are generally more popular than Trump’s (a 10% tariff on all imports, lowering the corporate tax rate).

There are several ways to interpret these patterns.

One is that voters, unfortunately, don’t care much about policy. Republican strategists sometimes say that voters may see Trump as a crude, immoral jerk, but still support his policies. Biden, on the other hand, may be a decent person, but voters don’t like where he stands on the issues, they say. These data suggest that, no, Trump’s jerkiness may be what makes him appealing and Biden disliked. in spite of his policy views.

At the very least, voters seem to be poorly informed about the candidates’ policies. This is understandable, given that political media coverage often emphasizes the competition rather than the issues (sometimes naively assuming that the odds are too high and the stakes are not high). Journalists must provide more information about what each candidate plans to do if elected to a second term, and how well those plans align with voters’ preferences.

It’s also hard to escape the conclusion that Biden has failed to effectively communicate policies that should have been easily accepted, as evidenced by his abysmal performance in last week’s debate, when Biden could not clearly explain (and at times could not even remember) what his position was or why it was better than Trump’s.

But the problem long predates his debate performance: Trump, a master of marketing, managed to convince the public he was right on every issue, without sweating the small stuff, while Biden managed to steal a winning platform (for now, at least) and then sink it.