Biden retakes 8-point lead in Fox News poll as voters sour on Trump's pandemic response


It isn't the 11-point blowout registered by Quinnipiac on Wednesday, but former Vice President Joe Biden has taken lead of 8 percentage points over President Trump in a Fox News poll released Thursday night. In the same poll a month ago, the two were tied, but before that Biden held a steady lead over Trump. Biden's 48-40 percent lead "is outside the poll's margin of error," Fox News notes. "However, given that 11 percent are undecided or plan to vote for someone else, neither candidate hits 50 percent support. The race could go either way."
Biden has a national lead of 5.5 points in RealClearPolitics' polling average.
The voters in the Fox News survey have a better opinion of Biden than Trump — Biden's net favorability is +2 points while Trump's is -12 points. But the numbers Fox News focused on are coronavirus versus economy. Biden bested Trump by 9 points (46-37 percent) on trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic and led Trump by 17 points on health care (50-33 percent), while Trump held a 3-point lead on managing the economy (45-42 percent). Overall, 44 percent of respondents approved of Trump's job performance while 54 percent disapproved.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The election is still months away, but a few metrics could spell trouble for Trump. Two groups he won in 2016, senior citizens and independents, currently back Biden by 17 points and 13 points, respectively. Biden also had a 12-point lead among voters who are very motivated to vote this fall, and 69 percent of Biden voters said they are extremely motivated to vote versus 63 percent of Trump voters.
Trump, who complained on Twitter earlier Thursday that "Fox News is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd," tweeted (and retweeted) his own poll Thursday night.
The Fox News poll was conducted May 17-20 among 1,207 registered voters contacted via phone by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R). The poll's margin of sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points for all registered voters.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
How global conflicts are reshaping flight paths
Under the Radar Airlines are having to take longer and convoluted routes to avoid conflict zones
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders