Joe Biden has opened up his biggest electoral lead over Donald Trump since he was nominated, with a new national poll showing him with a 15-point lead in the race for the White House.
Registered voters back the former vice president over the current 52 – 37 percent, according to a national Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. The same poll a month ago gave Mr. Biden an eight-point lead, 49 – 41 percent.
The poll suggested that independent voters were behind the change. In June, independent voters split almost equally between the two, with Biden now leading from 51 to 34 percent.
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“Yes, there are still 16 weeks before Election Day, but this is a very unpleasant real-time vision of what the future could be for President Trump.” There is no advantage, no silver lining, or an encouraging trend hidden somewhere in this poll for the president, “said University of Quinnipiac poll analyst Tim Malloy.
The poll surveyed 1,273 self-identified registered voters across the country between July 9-13, with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
Perhaps the standout figure from the poll is that Biden now leads Trump to public opinion on who would better manage the economy. The poll found that Biden leads 50-45 percent, a reversal from a June poll when Trump led 51-46 percent.
Trump’s fortune has continued to slide as the public has soured in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 3.4 million Americans have been infected with the virus and at least 136,800 have died.
“Voters give the president a negative approval rating of 35-62 percent for his handling of the coronavirus response, his lowest rating since the question was first asked in March,” Quinnipiac said.
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