A new poll conducted during the coronavirus pandemic and its health and political consequences shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump in this November’s election.
The Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll shows Biden with 47% and Trump with 39%. The poll, with a 2% margin of error, was conducted among 4,429 adults, including 3,806 who identified as registered voters from April 15 to 21.
The number of registered voters who said they would vote for Biden increased by 2 percentage points from a similar poll that ran last week and by 4 points from a poll that ran two weeks ago.
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Overall, 72% of adults in the United States said people should stay at home “until the doctors and public health officials say it is safe.” That included 88% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans and seven in 10 independents.
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Among U.S. adults, 42% said they approved of Trump’s performance in office, while 52% said they disapproved. The president’s overall popularity has been about the same for more than a year. When asked specifically about Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, 44% approved and 52% disapproved, which is an 8-point drop in net approval since last week and a 13-point drop from last month.
»MORE: Trump team targeting Democratic advantage with people of color
While Biden may be leading in polls more than six months before the election, Trump is holding a huge lead in fundraising.
Biden and his party are nearly $187 million behind Trump and the Republican National Committee. According to the numbers, Biden could raise almost $1 million every day between now and Nov. 3 and still not reach what Trump will have by Election Day.
Biden has already locked up almost universal support among what was the largest, most diverse number of Democratic presidential candidates in history.
He was also endorsed last week by former President Barack Obama, arguably the Democratic Party’s most popular figure.
Still, without any Democratic rivals left, Biden likely won't secure the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination until June, and the already-delayed Democratic National Convention has laid off half of its host committee staff in Milwaukee, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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In Biden and Trump, voters will choose between two white septuagenarians with dramatically different prescriptions for health care, climate change, foreign policy and leadership in an era of extreme partisanship.
At 77, Biden becomes the oldest major party presidential nominee in modern history. And having spent most of his life as an elected official in Washington, no nominee has had more experience in government.
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But in Trump, Biden is up against an adversary the likes of which he has never faced in his decadeslong political career. The 73-year-old Republican president opens with a massive cash advantage and a well-established willingness to win at any cost.
The Republican National Committee has already assembled an extensive research book on Biden. The GOP has devoted 10 researchers to Biden and sent hundreds of Biden-related Freedom of Information and public records requests to gather additional damaging material.
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