Back at the end of March, when the coronavirus was first surging in the United States, polls showed Americans felt similarly about both likely presidential candidates' abilities to handle the pandemic. Three months later, that's changed, a new survey released from The Washington Post and ABC News finds.
The poll, released Sunday, shows the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, holding a 20-point advantage over President Trump when it comes to which candidate voters trust more to deal with the pandemic. In March, the two were all but even, with Trump actually holding onto a slight advantage. The president is still seen as the better bet to manage the economy effectively, although his margin is shrinking there, as well.
Overall, Biden has a 15-point lead over Trump among registered voters, up from a 10-point lead in May and a 2-point advantage in March. The Post notes that Trump's decline in support is concentrated in states that are experiencing larger coronavirus outbreaks at the moment, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia.
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The Post/ABC News poll was conducted between July 12-15. A random national sample of 1,006 adults were surveyed over the phone. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points. Read the full results here.
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