Election 2020 Poll: Biden Leads Trump By An Average Of 7.2 Points In Polls

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is widening his lead over President Donald Trump in poll after poll as to who will become the next POTUS on Nov. 3.

Biden has been ahead of Trump in most polls since the former vice president declared his candidacy in April 2019. His lead over Trump has increased since April, according to poll aggregator, RealClearPolitics (RCP). The firm also said many of the polls depicting Biden’s growing lead came after the death of George Floyd on May 25. Floyd’s death triggered nationwide protests against police brutality and endemic racism.

In early May before Floyd’s murder, Biden held a 5.3 percentage points lead over Trump in the polls surveyed by RCP. That lead ballooned to 7.2 percentage points this week.

Some individual polls gave Biden an even larger lead. For example:

• The latest poll from ABC News/The Washington Post from May 25-28 showed Biden leading Trump, 53% to 40%, among all adults. Biden wins, 53% to 43%, among those who report being registered to vote. Biden wins, 51% to 46%, among those who are both registered and certain to vote.
• A Monmouth University poll released Wednesday found Biden leading Trump among voters, 52% to 41%.
• A CNBC/Change Research poll this week found Biden with a 48% to 41% lead over Trump among likely voters nationwide. The previous poll showed Biden with only a 3% lead over Trump.
• The New York Times on Wednesday reported Trump is trailing Biden even in private campaign polls.
• Biden still leads in the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump won these states in 2016.
• Biden also leads Trump in "who can better handle the pandemic" and "who could handle the George Floyd protests better".

Reports by opinion polls analysis website FiveThirtyEight showed a plunge in the approval of Trump’s handling of the pandemic. These polls also gave Trump low marks for his response to the civil unrest following Floyd’s death.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this week found Trump’s handling of the George Floyd protests received lower marks than his overall approval rating. More than 55% of American adults polled said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests compared to one-third that said otherwise.

Patrick Murray, Monmouth University polling director, believes Trump's reaction to Floyd’s death was a factor in the president’s plunge in the polls against Biden.

“The race continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent," according to Murray. "The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well."

Because of social distancing, Biden has mostly campaigned from home since March through online events.

“Instead of working to heal the raw wound of systemic racism and injustice ripped open once more by the murder of George Floyd, Trump has fomented hate and division,” said Andrew Bates, Biden campaign spokesman, to CNBC. “The American people are crying out for leadership that can win this battle for the soul of our nation, bring us together, overcome these crises, and build back so that we’re stronger than we’ve ever been before.”