Trump trails Biden in US approval ratings, claims new survey

Washington, July 20: US President Donald Trump faces an uphill task in his reelection bid in Novem-ber with his approval rating hitting a record low and Democratic nominee Joe Biden taking a double-digit lead in key indicators, according to a survey conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News. The opinion poll, conducted July 12 to 15, shows how the Coronavirus outbreak has adversely affected Trump’s prospects.

Now, the President’s hopes of winning are pinned on his enthusiastic core base of supporters and showing the electorate that the pandemic is being dealt with effectively, The Washington Post said in its report on the ABC News-Post poll.

Among registered voters, Biden, 77, leads Trump, 74, 55 per cent to 40 per cent. In the same category, Biden led Trump by just two points in March and by 10 points in May.

The survey found that traditional Republican and Democratic voters are treating the November polls as a referendum on Trump and not on whether Biden is a more suitable candidate, the report said.

Seventy-two per cent of Trump voters say reelecting the President is important, while 62 per cent of Biden voters say defeating Trump is the goal. The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by phone among a random American citizens sample of 1,006 adults. Results may have error margin of plus/minus 3.5 percentage points. The survey said 54 per cent of Americans believe Biden would handle Covid-19 outbreak better than Trump. Only 34 per cent felt Trump was doing well tackling the pandemic.

Biden edges out Trump by 9 points in crime and safety, which has been a major topic in the US after hundreds of anti-racism protests in the last two months. On race relations, Biden has a lead of 25 points over his Republican rival (58-33