Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has stepped up his lead over Donald Trump with less than a month to go, according to a poll released Tuesday by CNN.
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With 57% of voting intentions, Mr. Biden is now 16 points ahead of the Republican billionaire (41%), according to this national survey carried out by the SSRS institute.
The former vice-president is also more appreciated by those polled, with 52% positive opinions against 39% for the host of the White House.
In total, 1,001 people were questioned between October 1 and 4, after the first presidential debate and in part after the president’s positive coronavirus test was announced. The margin of error is 3.6%.
National polls do not predict the outcome of the November 3 vote, as the US election is played out in a handful of key states that are likely to shift from party to party.
Mr Biden is leading on a number of important topics: he would be better placed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic (59% against 38% for Mr Trump), the healthcare system (59% against 39%) and inequality racial (62% vs. 36%).
More worrying for Donald Trump, the polls prefer Mr. Biden for the management of the economy (50% against 48%) and the fight against crime (55% against 43%), the two campaign themes of the Republican president.
At 77, Joe Biden has also increased his lead in several categories of voters: women, young people, moderates and independents.
Mr. Biden also came out a winner in the first presidential debate, on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, according to 57% of those polled who watched him, compared to 26% for Mr. Trump.
Hogan Gidley, one of the president’s spokesman, denied the validity of this poll, saying that “the same pollsters announced his defeat in 2016” against Hillary Clinton.
“He won the election and he is doing the same thing now,” he said, assuring that he was based on internal polls which are not made public by the White House.
On Sunday, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, conducted before Donald Trump, 74, tested positive, gave Biden a 14-point lead.
At the national level, Joe Biden is 9.2 points ahead of Donald Trump according to the specialized site RealClearPolitics, which averages the polls.