Biden leads Trump

Democrat edges polls despite boost for President over virus

FORMER US Vice-President Joe Biden and current US President Donald Trump are virtually neck-and-neck in the 2020 United States presidential race, a new poll released on Sunday local time found.

Registered voters opted for Mr Biden by 49 per cent over Mr Trump’s 47 per cent, the Washington Post-ABC News poll showed – with the President closing a 7 percentage point gap from February as his administration responds to the coronavirus outbreak.

Registered voters by 47 to 43 per cent said they “trust” Mr Trump to handle the coronavirus pandemic over Mr Biden, but thought the Democratic presidential candidate would be better able to manage healthcare than the president by 50 to 41 per cent.

On who they trust on the economy, voters picked Mr Trump 52 to 42 per cent.

The poll comes amid the coronavirus crisis that has caused a number of states to postpone their primary elections to keep voters from contracting the virus.

Mr Biden has managed to amass more delegates than his challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders, but has yet to attain the 1991 needed to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

The survey found Mr Biden with a wide lead over the Vermont senator – 55 to 39 per cent – among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent voters.

The poll comes a day after a Fox News survey showed Mr Biden leading Mr Trump 49 to 40 per cent.

The poll surveyed 845 registered voters nationally March 22-25.

Voters quizzed gave Mr Biden high marks for his promise to nominate a woman as his vice-president, with 63 per cent approving of the idea.

The poll suggests that while Mr Trump’s approval ratings for handling the coronavirus crisis are improving, it is not translating into an election advantage against Mr Biden. between