Poll: Serious concerns about coronavirus drop in six battleground states

Serious concerns about the coronavirus pandemic are on the decline in some of the nation’s most critical battleground states, while approval of President Trump’s handling of the outbreak is rising, according to a new CNBC-Change Research poll released on Wednesday.

Across six battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the number of likely voters who expressed serious concern about the coronavirus dropped 4 points since earlier this month, dipping from 69 percent to 65 percent.

The share of respondents who said they have “very serious concerns” about the pandemic fell from 49 percent to 45 percent in recent weeks, according to the poll. 

Meanwhile, the number of battleground state respondents who approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic is on the upswing, rising to 47 percent from 44 percent earlier this month. That tracks with a rise in the president’s overall job approval across the six states, which rose to 48 percent. 

Nationally, the number of likely voters who are seriously concerned about the coronavirus pandemic held steady at 71 percent. And approval of Trump’s handling of the situation also remained the same at 42 percent, according to the CNBC-Change Research poll. 

But in a presidential race in which both Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are vying for a handful of battleground states, the poll presents some good news for the president, who has faced backlash for months over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The poll still showed Biden leading Trump in each of the six battleground states, though, and carrying a net 3-point advantage overall. 

The CNBC-Change Research poll surveyed 4,904 likely voters in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from Aug. 21 to 23. It also surveyed 2,362 likely voters for its national poll. The margin of error is 1.4 percentage points for the battleground state survey and 2.02 points for the national results.