A new poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden has opened up a big lead over President Trump in Pennsylvania, a Rust Belt battleground state that will play a pivotal role in determining the outcome of the 2020 election.
A state-level survey by Quinnipiac University finds Biden at 53 percent and Trump at 42 percent in a head-to-head match-up in Pennsylvania.
{mosads}Trump has a narrow 4 point advantage among male respondents, but Biden holds a 24 point lead among women — 60 percent to 36 percent. Among white voters, Biden leads 49 percent to 45 percent, but he leads among nonwhite voters by a whopping 70 percent to 27 percent.
Trump and Biden pulled at least 90 percent support from within their own parties, while the former vice president held a 14 point advantage among independents, leading 51 percent to 37 percent.
“More than half of Pennsylvania voters say they are better off financially than they were in 2016,” said Mary Snow, the polling analyst for Quinnipiac University. “But the economy isn’t giving President Donald Trump an edge in an early read of the very key Keystone State.”
Trump edged out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania by less than 1 point in 2016, making him the first GOP presidential nominee to carry the state since 1988.
Trump also won in two other traditionally blue states — Michigan and Wisconsin — that have made up the Democratic “blue wall” in the Rust Belt and Midwest.
Those three states will be a central focus for both parties in the 2020 general election. Biden, who is from Scranton, Pa., held his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month at a union hall.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also leads in a head-to-head matchup against Trump in Pennsylvania, 50 percent to 43 percent.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) held a smaller lead over the president, 47 percent to 44 percent. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Trump split in their hypothetical head-to-head contest, at 45 percent each.
Trump is essentially running even with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).
Trump’s approval rating is deep underwater in Pennsylvania — 54 percent of respondents disapprove of him while 42 percent support him.
White voters are evenly divided over the job Trump has done, but nonwhite voters disapprove by a margin of 74 percent to 23 percent. A slim majority of men approve of Trump’s job performance while 62 percent of women disapprove.
Still, 54 percent of voters in the state say they’re better off financially than they were in 2016. Only 21 percent said they are worse off. Seventy-one percent of Pennsylvanians describe the economy as “excellent” or “good.”
The Quinnipiac University survey of 978 Pennsylvania voters was conducted May 9-14 and has a 4.2 percentage point margin of error.