Joe Biden expands lead in US polls as Donald Trump’s approval drops

Voters increasingly dislike Donald Trump’s performance during the pandemic, but majority back his handling of economy.

Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump reached double digits this month as the President’s approval rating declined amid widespread disagreement with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Fewer than four months before the November election, 51 per cent of voters said they would vote for the former vice-president if the election were held today, with 40 per cent backing Mr Trump.

Mr Biden’s lead rose to 11 percentage points from seven points last month, as both suffered growth in the share of voters who view them very negatively.

Mr Trump maintained the backing of a majority of voters on the economy, with 54 per cent approving of his handling of it, a rec­ord high in the poll. The US economy officially entered a recession in February after the pandemic forced wide swaths of the economy to shut down, triggering millions of job losses. While activity showed signs of rebounding in May, the outlook could deteriorate as a wave of new cases forces states to reverse reopening plans.

The President’s overall job-­approval rating dropped three points over the past month: 42 per cent of voters approved of Mr Trump’s performance, with 56 per cent disapproving — his lowest rating since April 2018.

Peter Hart, a Democrat pollster who worked on the survey, said Mr Trump faced the most challenging environment for an incumbent since Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Lyndon Johnson in 1968.

Mr Carter lost and Johnson decided not to run for re-election.

“President Trump has hit the trifecta in the misery market. The three key indicators — job rating, personal feelings, attitudes on re-election — are all deeply submerged underwater,” Mr Hart said.

“They represent the best measure of the standing and political strength of an incumbent.”

The coronavirus crisis continued to drag on Mr Trump’s chances of winning re-election, with 37 per cent of voters approving of his handling of the outbreak and 59 per cent disapproving.

The number of voters who approve of Mr Trump’s response to the pandemic has steadily dropped, falling six points since last month and eight since March.

By more than a two-to-one margin, voters said they were more likely to vote for a candidate who was more focused on stopping the spread of the virus than on reopening businesses.

Nearly three-quarters of voters said they always wore a mask while shopping, working or when the were around people outside their homes, an 11-point increase from last month. The share of Trump supporters who say they always wear masks climbed 15 points since June to 54 per cent. Overall, 72 per cent of voters believed the country was on the wrong track.

Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Mr Hart, said Mr Trump’s path towards re-election was narrowing. “There would have to be a sea-change in these numbers to say how you would project that Trump would be winning a nat­ional vote,” he said.

The poll surveyed 900 registered voters from July 9 through July 12.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL