Trump closes gap on Biden

JOE Biden is leading Donald Trump by seven points nationwide as new poll reveals more than 50 percent of respondents disapprove of the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and other top issues.

According to the Fox News poll, 49 percent of respondents back the former vice president compared to the 42 percent who are throwing their support behind Trump.

The poll, which was conducted days before Biden announced his running mate, California Sen Kamala Harris, showed that nine percent of participants are undecided or revealed that they would back a third-party candidate.

Of the respondents, 54 percent said they disapprove of Trump’s performance as president while 66 percent said they were unhappy with the direction the country is going in, including 4 in 10 Republicans.

Participants also prefer Biden over Trump on top issues like race relations, health care, coronavirus and policing and criminal justice.

And despite Biden’s lead, when participants were asked who their neighbours would likely support, 39 percent said they think their neighbours will back Trump.

Thirty-four percent said their neighbours would likely back Biden.

Between August 9 and 12, respondents participated in the poll under the joint direction of Beacon Research and Shaw & Company.

The poll includes interviews with 1 000 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. The poll has a margin of error of three percentage points.

Results from the Fox News poll were similar to July’s when Biden held an 8 percentage point lead over Trump.

The July 15-21 poll found that 46 percent of registered voters said they would back Biden in the November 3 election, while 38 percent would vote for Trump.

The remaining 16 percent were either undecided, plan to support a third-party candidate or may not vote.

When asked about the most important factor driving their decision to vote, 34 percent — a plurality — said they were looking for a candidate who has “a robust plan to help the nation recover.”

Another 24 percent said they were looking for someone who can “restore trust in American government” and 12 percent said they wanted a candidate who is “strong on healthcare.”

Registered voters have consistently ranked Biden as the better candidate when it comes to all three.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that only 38 percent of the public supports Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, including 20 percent of undecided or third-party registered voters.

In June, Biden held 50 percent of the vote and was ahead of Trump by 12 percentage points DailyMail