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NEW YORK (REUTERS) – Democrat Joe Biden opened his widest lead in a month in the U.S. presidential race after President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, and most Americans believe Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken more virus. seriously, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Sunday (October 4).
The October 2-3 national opinion poll gave little indication of a large amount of support for the president beyond the core group of Trump supporters, some of whom have gathered outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been hospitalized.
Trump has repeatedly discounted the severity of the pandemic, painting it as something that would go away on its own and berating Biden as recently as last week for wearing a protective mask, even as the coronavirus has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States. , infected millions of people and forced the closure of businesses and schools.
Among adults expected to vote in the November 3 election, the poll found that 51 percent supported Biden, while 41 percent said they voted for Trump. Another 4% were choosing a third party candidate and another 4% said they were undecided.
Biden’s 10-point lead over Trump is one to two points higher than the leads Biden posted in recent weeks, although the increase is still within the survey’s precision limits of plus or minus five percentage points. .
With about a month to go before the election, Biden has maintained a head start to secure the national popular vote. But to win the presidency, a candidate must prevail in enough states to win the Electoral College, and state polls show Trump is almost as popular as Biden in battle states.
Trump, 74, was transferred to Walter Reed on Friday, hours after tweeting that he was diagnosed with Covid-19. The announcement triggered a dizzying splitscreen experience for many: When media alerts turned on cell phones and television screens about Trump feeling feverish and in need of oxygen, several other Republican leaders who had been in close proximity to the president announced that they, too, had positive.
Most Americans remain deeply concerned about the virus, and the poll found that 65 percent, including nine out of 10 registered Democrats and five out of 10 registered Republicans, agreed that “if President Trump had taken the more seriously, it probably wouldn’t have. ” has been infected. “
Only 34 percent said they thought Trump had been telling them the truth about the coronavirus, while 55 percent said no and 11 percent were unsure.
Of those surveyed, 57 percent of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic overall, about three points higher than a poll that was conducted late last week.
Americans also appear to strongly support cutting the 2020 presidential race to ensure everyone’s safety.
67% of Americans want to stop campaign rallies in person and 59% believe that presidential debates should be postponed until Trump recovers from the coronavirus.
At this time it is unclear how Trump’s diagnosis will affect the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for October 15. The first vice presidential debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Mike Pence is scheduled for Thursday.
The Reuters / Ipsos survey was conducted online, in English, across the United States. It collected responses from 1,005 American adults, including 596 likely voters.
Only about 61 percent of voting-age Americans actually voted in the 2016 election.
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