Former Vice President Joe Biden has opened up a 15-point lead over President Donald Trump, according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll that also spells out bad news for the President on the economy, his most important selling point for reelection.
A majority of registered voters (52%) report they’ll support Biden in the general election, with 37% going for Trump, a wider margin than in Quinnipiac’s June poll, when 49% backed Biden and 41% supported Trump.
An NBC/WSJ poll out Wednesday also finds Biden leading Trump with an increasing margin, Biden with 51% support among registered voters over Trump’s 40%. In the NBC/WSJ June poll, Biden lead Trump with 49% to 42%.
The poll also finds growing disapproval of Trump’s job performance – with a notable shift on the economy where reviews of Trump’s performance have turned negative. The economy had been the only issue on which Trump earned a net positive rating in Quinnipiac’s polling, but now, 44% approve while 53% disapprove of his performance.
However, the NBC/WSJ poll doesn’t find the same reversal. A majority of registered voters (54%) approve of how Trump is handling the economy in that poll, 42% disapprove, steady from their February poll. Significantly fewer approve of how Trump is handling race relations (33%) and coronavirus (37%), according to NBC/WSJ.
Overall, the survey finds 36% of registered voters approve of the way Trump is handling his job generally, and 60% disapprove, compared with 42% approve to 55% disapprove in June.
The survey also finds Biden edging out Trump when voters are asked who would do a better job handling the economy – 50% say Biden and 45% for Trump, a reversal from June when 51% said Trump would do a better job, 46% Biden.
Biden also holds broad advantages over Trump on who would do a better job addressing racial inequality (+32 points for Biden), handling the response to the coronavirus (+24 for Biden), health care (+23 for Biden), and handling a crisis (+19 for Biden).
Most registered voters (61%) disapprove of the way Trump is handling the reopening of schools, while only 29% approve. Trump’s approval on this issue is about the same among parents of kids under the age of 18 (30%).
The Quinnipiac poll shows a majority of voters (62%) think it will be unsafe to send students to elementary, middle and high schools in the fall, 31% believe it will be safe. In May, 40% felt it would be safe to send students back to school. Around the same number (34%) thought it would be safe to send college students back in the fall.
The poll shows parents were slightly more likely to believe sending kids to elementary, middle or high school will be safe - 37% among all parents, 38% among those with kids in public school.
The NBC/WSJ poll shows 57% of registered voters would rather vote for a candidate for president or US Congress who is more focused on controlling the spread of coronavirus while 25% want to vote for someone who will focus on reopening businesses.
A separate state poll also gave Trump some bad news in a key state.
A Pennsylvania poll from Monmouth University, also out Wednesday, finds Biden leading Trump significantly – Biden with 53% of registered voters, 40% for Trump.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted July 9-13 among a random national sample of 1,273 registered voters. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted June 9-12 among a random national sample of 900 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.27 percentage points.
