Biden enters convention with a moderately shrinking lead over Trump, polls find
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden enters his virtual nominating convention ahead of President Trump, but the race has tightened either a little bit or a lot in three polls released Sunday and Monday morning. The most dramatic shift was in CNN's poll, which had Biden leading Trump by just 4 percentage points among registered voters, 50 percent to 46 percent, down from a 14-point lead in June. In 15 battleground states, CNN and SSRS found, Biden is ahead by just 1 point, 49 percent to 48 percent.
Biden maintained a wider lead in a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Monday and a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll on Sunday. In the Washington Post/ABC poll, Biden has a 12-point advantage among both registered voters and voting-age adults, 53 percent to 41 percent. Biden led by 15 points in the same poll in July. The WSJ/NBC recorded Biden with a 9-point lead, 50 percent to 49 percent, versus his 11-point lead last month. FiveThirtyEight gives Biden an 8.4-point lead in its polling average, 51.3 percent to 42.9; RealClearPolitics has Biden up 7.5 points, 49.8 percent to 42.3 percent.
In all three polls, voters were largely motivated by support for or opposition to Trump, and the percentage of voters paying attention to the election was historically high. Trump polls badly on his response to the COVID-19 pandemic but narrowly leads Biden on the economy and crime. Biden leads on all other issues. Trump's job approval rating ranged from 42 percent (CNN/SSRS) to 44 percent (WSJ/NBC). Biden's choice of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate got high marks in the polls.
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 CNN/SSRS poll, which has swung wildly this year, was conducted Aug. 12-15 among 987 registered voters contacted by phone, and its margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points, or ±5.4 points for the 15 battleground states. The Washington Post/ABC News poll contacted 1,001 adults including 868 registered voters by phone Aug. 12-15 and its margin of error was ±4 points for registered voters. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll involved 900 registered voters contacted Aug. 9-12, and its margin of error is ±3.27 points.
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.
-
Pipe bombs: The end of a conspiracy theory?Feature Despite Bongino and Bondi’s attempt at truth-telling, the MAGAverse is still convinced the Deep State is responsible
-
The robot revolutionFeature Advances in tech and AI are producing android machine workers. What will that mean for humans?
-
Health: Will Kennedy dismantle U.S. immunization policy?Feature ‘America’s vaccine playbook is being rewritten by people who don’t believe in them’
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
