Former Vice President Joe Biden is more trusted by voters with handling the coronavirus pandemic, and President Donald Trump has voters' confidence when it comes to the economy, a new poll showed.
In the Fox News survey released Thursday, voters trusted Biden to do a better job than Trump on healthcare by 17 points, coronavirus by 9 points, and relations with China by 6 points.
Trump is trusted more on the economy by 3 points, the survey found.
"That might be the election in a nutshell," Democrat Chris Anderson, who conducts the poll with Republican Daron Shaw, told Fox News. "Trump has a slight advantage in a narrow debate about economic recovery, but a debate about coronavirus or public health more broadly benefits Biden."
According to the survey, 80% of voters are concerned about coronavirus spreading and 78% feel the economy is in bad shape.
Fox News reported in January, voters rated economic conditions positively by an 11-point margin: 55% said it was excellent or good, while 44% said it was fair or poor.
The current poll showed voters rated the economy negatively by 58 points: 20% said it was excellent or good while 78% called it fair or poor.
In other findings, the poll showed:
- 67% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans feel the economic situation is the worst crisis since the Depression.
- 50% of Republicans expect the economy to improve in the next six months; 19% of Democrats said the same.
- 32% overall think the economy will improve within six months; 23% say it will be 7-12 months; 24% say 1-2 years; and 14% think longer than that.
- In the 2020 ballot test, Biden leads Trump by 48% to 40%; 11% are undecided or plan to vote for someone else.
- Trump's personal favorable rating is 43%; 55% have an unfavorable opinion. Biden garnered 48% favorable, and 46% unfavorable.
The telephone poll of 1,207 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.