Joe Biden has increased his lead on President Donald Trump in polling as the global coronavirus pandemic has stretched on, taking a narrow 2-point edge in March and expanding it to 15-points in mid-July, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The poll results are Biden 55% to Trump's 40% among registered voters and mirrors the spread between the candidates among American adults (54%-39%). Taking those certain to vote, Biden's lead still remains in double digits at 11 points, according to the Post.
"About 2 in 3 voters in urban areas back Biden, while not-quite 6 in 10 of those in rural areas back the president," the Post reported. "In suburban areas, considered the key battleground this fall, a bare majority currently back Biden."
While Trump has lost ground during the COVID-19 outbreak, he has hardened his base compared to 2016.
Among registered voters who said they would vote for Trump over Biden, 94% are enthusiastic in their support, including 69% very enthusiastic. That trumps the 2016 enthusiasm in the final poll before the '16 election: 83% enthusiastic, including 48% very enthusiastic, according to the poll.
While Biden voters in the poll have slightly increased during the pandemic, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee still trails Trump by nearly 20 points in the percent of voters who are enthusiastic (77%), including just 36% who are very enthusiastic.
A large majority of Biden voters see it more important to defeat Trump (67%) than to elected Biden (24%).
It is nearly the opposite for Trump voters:
- 72% say it is more important to re-elect Trump.
- 21% say it is more important to defeat Biden.
Trump's 15-point deficit can largely be pointed to the registered voters' opinion of his handling of the pandemic. Trump gets pandemic-low 38% approval and a pandemic-high 60% disapproval.
Also, the poll heavily sampled Democrats (30%) compared to Republicans (24%) – with 39% independents.
The poll was conducted July 12-15 among 1,006 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, and among 845 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.