Former President Trump is pulling more support than President Biden in at least seven swing states that are likely going to determine the election, a survey released this week found.
The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found Biden trailing Trump in several critical states — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin — when voters were asked who they would support in a hypothetical general election. Large shares of the respondents voiced concerns with Biden’s age, while a significant percentage said Trump was dangerous.
Across all seven states, 48 percent of voters said they would back Trump, and 43 percent would back Biden. Trump’s lead appeared to be the strongest in North Carolina, where he is 9 points ahead of Biden — bringing in 50 percent support compared to Biden’s 41 percent.
The Tar Heel State, which Trump won in the 2020 election, was the only state the former president garnered at least 50 percent of support in the new survey. Neither candidate clinched a majority show of support in any of the other swing states.
Trump maintained a 6-point lead over Biden in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania in the recent poll — four states Biden carried in 2020.
The gap is closer in Wisconsin and Michigan — which Biden also won in the last presidential election. In the Badger State, Biden trails the Republican presidential front-runner by 4 percentage points and trails him by 2 percentage points in the Great Lakes State — where Trump has 46 percent of support and Biden has 44 percent.
Bloomberg News noted that overall, about 8 in 10 voters across all states said Biden was too old and nearly 6 in 10 voters labeled Trump as dangerous. Voters were also more likely to describe the former president as mentally fit than the incumbent, the poll found.
The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll was conducted online Feb. 12-20 and surveyed 4,955 registered voters in the seven swing states. The margin of error for all seven states as a whole was 1 percentage point.
When broken down by state, the margin of error is 3 percentage points in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania; 4 percentage points in Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin; and 5 percentage points in Nevada.
The poll results come on the heels of the 2024 Michigan presidential primary — where both party front-runners won their respective contests.