Voters in Arizona side with presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden on handling the global coronavirus pandemic and race relations, which helps give him a 5-point lead in the key battleground state in the latest NBC News/Marist Poll.
While President Donald Trump does have the handling of the economy and voter enthusiasm on his side, the margin in Arizona looms large for the upcoming election, according to Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
"With 11 electoral votes in play, the 2020 battle for the White House goes through the Sunbelt," Miringoff told NBC News.
The race is technically a statistical tie with Biden having the support of 50% of registered voters to Trump's 45%, a 4-point margin that is within in the 4.1 percentage point margin of error.
Perhaps most alarming for the GOP incumbent in the poll is that this one features more Republican registered voters (31%) than Democrats (26%). There is a large 40% portion of independents, however. Independents caucus with Democrats in Congress.
But Biden gets the edge in polling because of an 11-point margin of registered voters who believe he would do a better job (48%) handling the global coronavirus pandemic than Trump (37%).
Race relations are even more widely in the Democrat's favor (20 points: 53%-33%).
Trump does hold a 20-point lead on the handling of the economy (55%-35%) and enthusiasm, according to the poll:
- 74% of Trump supporters back him "strongly."
- 61% of Biden supporters back in "strongly."
Among those who dislike both options, 56% say they will ultimately vote for Biden compared to just 29% voting for Trump, per the report.
The NBC News/Marist poll was conducted July 14-22 among 1,020 Arizona adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Among the 826 registered voters the margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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