Biden leads Trump nationally by 15 points: poll

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has built a commanding 15-point national lead over President Trump in his bid for the White House, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. 

The survey, which was released on Sunday, found that 55 percent of registered voters say they would vote for the former vice president if the 2020 election were held today, while 40 percent say they’d back Trump. The findings represent a substantial shift in support for Biden, who led Trump by just 2 points in a similar poll released in March and by 10 points in May. 

The drop in support for Trump comes as his approval rating slides amid a coronavirus pandemic that has upended everyday life in the U.S. for months, with the country experiencing a surge of new cases.

Just 39 percent of Americans said they approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, while 57 percent said they disapproved of it. In March, Trump’s approval rating sat at 48 percent, with just 46 percent of respondents saying they opposed his handling of the presidency. 

The jump in Trump’s disapproval rating appears linked to Americans’ perceptions of his handling of the current health crisis. Sunday’s poll found that 38 percent of respondents approve of the president’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, while 60 percent disapprove. Fifty-two percent said they strongly disapproved the president’s handling of the pandemic. 

Perceptions of Trump’s handling of the economy is the category where the president polls the strongest, with 50 percent approval, though the figure still represents a decline in support. In March, 57 percent said they approved the president’s handling of the economy. 

A majority of respondents said they trusted Biden more than Trump to handle the coronavirus outbreak, crime and safety, and race relations in America. The only category where Trump polled higher ahead of Biden was on the economy. 

The Washington Post-ABC News poll is the latest to find Biden with a growing lead over Trump in the 2020 elections. Several national polls have shown the former vice president with double-digit advantages over Trump. Recent polls of battleground states have also shown Biden with solid leads over the president. 

A New York Times-Siena College survey released in late June showed Biden leading the president by at least 6 points in North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, states that Trump won in the 2016 election.

The Washington Post-ABC News survey was conducted from July 12 to July 15 among a population of 1,006 American adults, including 845 registered voters. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points for the full sample and 4 points for registered voters.