President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic is bringing his poll numbers down, and Republican senators are suffering along with him, according to a newly released New York Times/Siena College poll.
The poll shows Joe Biden is leading Trump by wide margins in Maine and Arizona and effectively tied in North Carolina, reports The New York Times on Friday. In all three states, Democrat Senate candidates were ahead of Republican incumbents by five percentage points or more.
Those polled said by 60% to 35% that they trust Biden over Trump on the pandemic. Maine had the widest gap between the two candidates, but even in North Carolina, where voters are divided, they preferred Biden over Trump on the coronavirus by 52% to 41%. In Arizona, voters picked Biden by 16 points.
According to the poll:
- Maine: Biden leads by 17 points. In the Senate race, Democrat Sara Gideon leads by 49% to 44% for incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins
- Arizona: Biden leads by 9 points. For Senate, Democrat Mark Kelly leads by 50% to 42% for incumbent GOP Sen. Martha McSally.
- North Carolina: Biden and Trump are in an effective tie, with Biden ahead by one point at 45% to 44%. Democrat Cal Cunningham is ahead of incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis by 42% to 37%.
The poll of likely voters suggests that the endangered GOP senators have not convinced voters to see them more favorably than they do Trump, reports the Times. This leaves Democrats appearing to be positioned to gain several Senate seats, but it's not yet clear if the party will regain majority control, the newspaper said.
The Times noted it has polled seven battleground states in the last two weeks, and Trump did not gather more than 44% of the vote in any of them.
The poll, conducted by phone Sept. 10 to 16, had a margin of sampling error ranging from about four percentage points in Arizona to five percentage points in Maine.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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