Poll: Biden maintains double-digit lead over Trump
Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead President Donald Trump by a wide margin nationally, a poll released Thursday shows, as the race for the White House stabilizes, at least for the time being, with Biden well in front.
The Monmouth University poll shows Biden with a 12-point nationwide lead over the president, 53 percent to 41 percent among registered voters. Last month, Monmouth’s poll told a similar story, with the presumptive Democratic nominee holding 52 percent support compared with Trump’s 41 percent.
Thursday’s survey highlighted one of Trump’s major obstacles to reelection — the amount of the electorate which has made up its mind against him. Half of registered voters say they are not at all likely to support Trump, while 39 percent say the same for Biden.
Whereas Trump benefited from a relatively unpopular opponent in 2016 when running against Hillary Clinton, Biden’s favorability ratings this cycle present a different challenge. Forty-four percent of voters view the former vice president favorably, the same percentage that view him unfavorably. Trump’s favorability rating, by comparison, is 17 points underwater.
Biden’s lead has increased in every Monmouth poll since March, from 3 percentage points four months ago to 12 percentage points this week.
POLITICO has reported that Trump has privately come to the realization in recent days that he is in a poor position for reelection, partly due to an increasing number of grim polls.
The Trump campaign has sought to portray Biden in cognitive decline and the former vice president had to fend off questions about his mental capacities during a press conference this week. The Monmouth poll found that 52 percent of voters are at least somewhat confident that Biden has the mental and physical stamina to be president, more than the 45 percent who say the same about the incumbent.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by phone from June 26-30 among 867 adults, including 733 registered voters. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.