29 April 2020

Trump faltering in the polls with his handling of Covid-19 pandemic doing harm, as Biden takes advantage

US President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen again as voters turn off to his response to the pandemic.

His overall rating has dropped from 46 per cent to 41, according to an Emerson College poll, while his rating for his handling of the virus dropped ten points from last month, going from 49 to 39.

This comes after the President's recent setback when he suggested  injecting disinfectant as a treatment for the virus and then snubbed a White House press conference labelling it ‘not worth the effort’.

The Presidential election is coming up in November with former Vice President Joe Biden the most likely opponent.

Biden has maintained a six point lead in the ratings over Trump, although his popularity has also dropped. Last month Biden had a rating of 53, which is now down to 48.

Director of Emeson College polling said: “While Trump is struggling to handle the coronavirus epidemic, it appears Biden has his own image issues with voters and may need help from former President Obama on the campaign trail to try and transfer the positive image voters have of Obama to Biden.”

Individual state polls are highlighting the same trend. An Ohio poll by Baldwin Wallace University had Biden leading Trump by a point, a five point swing since March when the President led by four.

And New York is steaming ahead with support for Biden as the former Vice President has a 36 point lead according to a Sienna poll. Biden is polling at 65 per cent to Trump's 29.

If the New York poll remains as it stands come the election, it would be the worst result for a major party Presidential candidate for nearly a century. 

The last time a candidate got under 30 per cent was in 1924 when Democrat John Davis received 29 per cent of the vote with Republican Calvin Coolidge taking the state with 56.

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