President Donald Trump slipped further behind the Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden in the wake of revelations he knowingly downplayed the dangers of COVID-19 and allegedly disparaged fallen soldiers, a new poll showed.
The Yahoo News/YouGov survey of registered voters conducted from Sept. 9-11 showed Biden leading Trump 49% to 39%. A previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll had Biden ahead by 6 points.
The new poll comes after a week of disparaging reports about Trump, including The Atlantic's controversial report on the president's contempt for wounded or dead soldiers — a claim that was disputed by officials who were present when he supposedly made the remark — and journalist Bob Woodward's interviews with the president in which he admitted playing down the pandemic.
According to the poll, 23% of registered voters say his remarks on the pandemic changed their opinion of his handling of the crisis; 15% of Trump voters say the Woodward news changed their mind about his response to the pandemic.
Overall, 15% say the Woodward quotes have made them less likely to vote to reelect the president in November; a third of that group were 2016 Trump supporters, the poll found.
As for the military comments, 50% of registered voters name Biden as having more respect for the military; 39% said so of Trump. By the same margin, voters say Biden would do a better job leading the military than the current commander in chief, the poll found.
Among independents, 23% say the news increased their support for Biden, compared to 9% who say the news increased their support for Trump; 6% of 2016 Trump supporters say they have moved toward Biden as a result.
The poll's margin of error is about 3.3%.
In other findings, the poll found:
- 57% disapprove of the president's handling of the pandemic; only 40% approve.
- 48% say the United States would be better right now if Biden had been president instead of Trump; 31% disagreed.
- 37% approve of the way the president has handled the Black Lives Matter protests; 54% disapprove.
- In the wake of the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 57% say Trump "makes things worse" when he talks about race; 27% say he "makes things better."
- 49% believe Biden would have handled the Black Lives Matter protests better; 34% thought Trump handled it better than Biden would have.
- 42% believe if Biden is elected, there'll be less violence like that seen in Kenosha, Wisconsin; 32% believe there'll be more.
- 23% believe Biden wants to "abolish the suburbs" as Trump has warned; 46% believe he does not.
- 61% predict there will be more violence if Trump is reelected; 20% say there will be less.
- 16% think a vaccine released before Election Day would be safe; 58% believe the opposite. Also, 62% say it's a bad idea for Trump to push health officials to release a vaccine before the election; 17% say it's a good idea.
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