NBC News/WSJ poll shows Biden with 11-point national lead over Trump

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday afternoon shows former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, with an 11-point national lead over President Trump.

Registered voters support Biden over Trump, 51 percent to 40 percent; last month, Biden was ahead of Trump by 7 percentage points, 49 percent to 42 percent, in the same poll. In the combined 11 battleground states, Biden leads Trump by 12 points, 52 percent to 40 percent.

Trump's job approval rating is at 42 percent, down 3 points to its lowest level in two years. A majority of voters, 54 percent, approve of how Trump is handling the economy, but just 37 percent approve of how he is handling the coronavirus pandemic.

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Democratic pollster Peter Hart, whose firm conducted the survey with GOP pollster Bill McInturff, told NBC News the "atmosphere and the attitudes toward Donald Trump are the most challenging an incumbent president has faced since Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Lyndon Johnson in 1968."

Trump comes out ahead among white voters (49 percent to 42 percent) and white people without college degrees (57 percent to 35 percent), while Biden leads among Black voters (80 percent to 6 percent) and women (58 percent to 35 percent).

The poll of 900 registered voters was conducted July 9 to 12, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.