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Joe Biden has narrowed Donald Trump’s lead in crucial swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina in spite of his disastrous debate performance fallout, according to a new poll.
In the new Morning Consult and Bloomberg survey, Trump holds only a three-point lead over Biden in Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina and a one-point lead over Biden in Georgia.
The former president holds a more significant lead over Biden in Pennslyvania.
Meanwhile, Biden is polling slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in Michigan and Wisconsin.
The new poll results suggests that Biden’s public perception may not have plummeted as badly as feared following his first 2024 presidential debate against Trump last week.
The findings however contradict other recent polls including from The New York Times and Siena College, CBS News and YouGov, which have all found Biden’s debate performance has negatively impacted public perception.
A confidential polling memo obtained by Puck News reveals that states where Biden was clearly ahead, such as New Mexico, Virginia, and New Hampshire, may now be winnable for Trump – with Biden now significantly behind Trump in key swing states like Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
It is unclear if the Morning Consult / Bloomberg poll is an outlier among the others. It is the first comprehensive survey of the states that are most likely to decide the outcome of the Electoral College.
Biden’s lackluster presence on the debate stage last week has fuelled major concerns as to whether the president can effectively campaign and defeat Trump in November. Some Democratic lawmakers are calling on Biden to withdraw from the race in the hopes of giving the party a greater chance of winning.
So far, Biden has refused to step aside and the Biden-Harris campaign has gone on the defense, seeking to assure Americans that the president is mentally fit to serve another four years.
On Friday, Biden sat down with ABC News for a make-or-break interview in a bid to dissuade fears.
Although the poll found a less dramatic impact on voters than other surveys, it did find wide mistrust in Biden’s mental acuity – a consistent finding across most polling.
Less than 40 percent of survey respondents think Biden should continue his campaign. Meanwhile, half say Trump should definitely remain in the 2024 race.
However, voters’ perception of Trump as a dangerous individual has increased since the start of this year. Now, 62 percent of voters believe the former president, and now convicted felon, is dangerous – three percentage points more than in February.
