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Poll: Biden holds lead over Trump as coronavirus concerns grip nation
The virus is the top issue to voters, over half of them disapprove of how President Trump’s handling it, and they increasingly trust Joe Biden to do a better job on it. That keeps Biden ahead in the presidential race, according to a Fox News survey of registered voters.
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 15% among registered voters nationally and holds a 20-point lead when it comes to who Americans trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic, according to a major poll out on Sunday.
In the same ABC News/Washington Post poll, Biden led by two points in March and 10 points in May. Now, among respondents who said they will certainly vote in November, Biden leads by 11%.
Fox News also released a poll on Sunday. It put Biden ahead on coronavirus, race relations and the economy and eight points up nationally.
Fox News Poll: Biden leads by 8 points over Trump, 49-41 percent.
Seven percent of those approving of Trump’s job performance back Biden.
Whites with a college degree (+3) and without a degree go for Trump (+9). He’s also the choice among White evangelical Christians (+43), rural voters (+9) and seniors (+1). Last month, seniors went for Biden by 10.
Biden is preferred over Trump among extremely motivated voters (+8 points), those extremely likely to vote (+9) and those who feel it is extremely important their candidate wins (+13).
However, the number of Biden supporters who are extremely likely to vote drops 25 points if the virus is hitting so hard in November as to, for instance, close restaurants. Because the drop-off would just be 16 points among Trump supporters, that puts Biden’s lead at just 3 points over the president in that still-raging coronavirus scenario.
The virus is a campaign issue -- but it could also be a factor, like bad weather, that reduces turnout.
Meanwhile, in contrast to 2016 when voters viewed both candidates as unlikable, Biden garners a net +11 favorable rating: 54 percent view him favorably vs. 43 percent unfavorably.
For Trump, it’s 43 percent favorable vs. 56 percent unfavorable. That gives him a net -13 points. Indeed, nearly half, 47 percent, have a “strongly” unfavorable opinion compared to 31 percent for Biden.
Voters believe Trump lacks the key traits for the Oval Office: less than half think he has the mental soundness (43 percent), intelligence (42 percent), and judgment (40 percent) to serve effectively as president. For reference, 36 percent felt he had the necessary judgment in October 2016, less than a month before his election victory.
Biden bests Trump on each measure: 47 percent are confident in his mental soundness, 51 percent believe he has the intelligence and 52 percent say he has the judgment.
Notably, 50 percent eludes both candidates on mental soundness. Those ages 65+ think Trump has it by a 1-point margin and that Biden lacks it by 3 points.
The biggest trait difference is on compassion: 56 percent believe Biden has it compared to 36 percent for Trump.