This archive report was first published on 25 June 2020.
Biden Takes Lead Over Trump in 2020 Presidential Poll ¶
Published on June 25, 2020, a new national poll by The New York Times and Siena College has revealed a commanding lead for Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race.
According to the poll, Biden is currently ahead of Trump by 14 percentage points, garnering 50% of the vote compared with 36% for Trump. This is among the most dismal showings of Trump's presidency, and a sign that he is the clear underdog right now in his fight for a second term.
Trump has been an unpopular president for virtually his entire time in office, with few efforts made to broaden his support beyond the right-wing base that vaulted him into office with only 46% of the popular vote and a modest victory in the Electoral College.
However, among a striking cross-section of voters, the distaste for Trump has deepened as his administration failed to stop a deadly disease that crippled the economy and then as he responded to a wave of racial-justice protests with angry bluster and militaristic threats.
The dominant picture that emerges from the poll is of a country ready to reject a president whom a strong majority of voters regard as failing the greatest tests confronting his administration.
Biden leads Trump by enormous margins with black and Hispanic voters, and women and young people appear on track to choose Biden by an even wider margin than they favored Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016.
However, the former vice president has also drawn even with Trump among male voters, whites, and people in middle age and older — groups that have typically been the backbones of Republican electoral success, including Trump's in 2016.
Some voters have expressed unease toward Trump due to his racial attitudes, with white voters under 45 overwhelmingly supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement, while older whites are more tepid in their views toward racial justice activism.
Additionally, nearly 70% of whites under 45 said they believed the killing of George Floyd was part of a broader pattern of excessive police violence toward African-Americans rather than an isolated incident.
Mr. Trump retains a few points of strength in the poll that could offer him a way to regain a footing in the race, and the feeble condition of his candidacy right now may well represent his low point in a campaign with four and a half months still to go.
