Former President Trump is leading President Biden in seven swing states, dealing the latest blow to Biden’s reelection campaign just weeks ahead of the start of primary voting season, according to a new survey.
The poll, published Thursday from Morning Consult and Bloomberg News, found Biden is trailing the former president by an average of 5.28 percentage points in the seven swing states surveyed — North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Trump held his strongest lead over Biden in North Carolina — 11 points — followed by Georgia — 7 points.
The former president is leading in Wisconsin by 6 points and Nevada by 5 points, pollsters found. His smallest leads are in Michigan and Arizona, leading by 4 and 3 points, respectively.
The results are from a hypothetical ballot that includes party front-runners Biden and Trump, as well as third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein. There was also an option for participants to choose an unlisted candidate or answer “don’t know/no opinion,” or choose to forgo voting altogether.
Kennedy had support from roughly 1 in 10 voters across the swing states, while 1 percent to 2 percent of voters in each state supported West, 1 percent to 3 percent supported Jill Stein and 1 percent to 3 percent supported a candidate not on the ballot.
When the third-party candidates are taken off the ballot, Trump continues to lead Biden in all seven states, though Georgia’s race comes within a margin of error of 6 percentage points, pollsters said.
The survey also found Trump secured more support from respondents when looking at the economy.
However, when it comes to the issue of health care, Biden has a slight lead over the former president in five of the swing states on the issue — Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump still leads on the issue in Georgia and North Carolina, according to the survey.
The results follow a series of recent polling showing Trump holding leads over the incumbent in some battleground states. Earlier this week, a CNN poll showed Trump has a 10-point lead over Biden among Michigan voters and a 5-point lead in Georgia.
The Morning Consult/Bloomberg News poll was conducted among swing-state voters from Nov. 27 to Dec. 6 and has an overall margin of error of 3 percentage points.