Republican leader Donald Trump has a 2 to 8-point lead over incumbent President and Democratic leader Joe Biden in a poll conducted in six key states ahead of the November United States presidential election.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the published poll cites concerns about the economy and the Democratic president’s health as explanations for Trump’s lead.
Trump leads by 2 to 8 percentage points in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, when asked who voters, including third-party, independent candidates, would choose.
The result is similar in a “duel” between the top two. In Wisconsin, the seventh state where the result is also considered a toss-up, Biden leads Trump by 3 points among all candidates. In the duel between them, they appear to be tied.
Alarm for the economy
Biden’s campaign staff is struggling to assuage voters’ concerns about the U.S. economy, despite job creation, healthy spending and better-than-expected GDP growth. This issue is troubling economists and Democratic political analysts.
In the WSJ poll, negative views of Biden’s performance in office outnumber positive views by at least 16 points. In four of the contested states, the difference exceeds 20 points.
Negative views of Trump’s performance while in office were expressed by voters in only one state, Arizona. Also, 48% of voters felt that Trump is in better physical and mental shape to take over the presidency, while Biden’s share on the same question is only 28%.
The poll was conducted among a sample of 4,200 voters (600 in each state) between March 17-24. The margin of statistical error is plus or minus 1.5% for the entire sample and plus or minus 4% for each state’s results separately.
