Presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump by 11 percentage points in a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist Poll, which also found that voters trust the former vice president to handle the coronavirus pandemic better.
The poll shows Biden with his widest lead so far in the PBS/NPR polls, with 53% of U.S. adults polled saying, if the election was held today, they would vote for Biden, compared to 42% for Trump.
The poll was conducted from Aug. 3-11 of 1,261 U.S. adults and carried a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, and of 1,118 registered voters, with a margin of error of 36 percentage points. The interviews were almost finished before Biden announced he had picked Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as his running mate.
The president's dropping numbers were deemed to come in part from his handling of the pandemic, leaving 53% of adults to say Biden would do a better job and 37% thinking Trump would be better. Another 5% said they do not think either candidate has what is needed to handle the crisis and another 5% said they are not sure.
No matter which candidate the Americans surveyed thought would be better to handle the virus crisis:
- 71% said they think COVID-19 is a real threat.
- 34% said the pandemic will be a factor in their voting.
- 27% said the crisis has been blown out of proportion.
- 60% would choose to be vaccinated.
- 35% said they would not get vaccinated.
- Most Democrats and independents said they would be vaccinated, but Republicans were more divided.
- 74% think it would be a good idea to pass a national mask mandate.
In overall numbers, people listed several reasons for why they would vote for Biden or Trump:
- 44% said they would vote for Biden because they genuinely like him.
- 50% would vote for Biden because they do not like Trump.
- 74% of Trump voters say they support him.
- 22% would vote for Trump because they do not want Biden.
- 52% would vote for Biden even if they do not like him.
- 33% would vote for Trump, despite not liking him.
- 47% saying Trump would be better at handling the economy, and 45% picking Biden.
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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