The latest survey from Optimus pollsters, published Monday, found Biden was backed by 44 percent of likely voters, while 40 percent said they would vote for Trump if an election were held the same day. Biden’s 4-point lead over the president puts him within the margin of error.
When the same poll was conducted between June 6 and June 13, the former vice president’s lead over Trump was double the size.
Biden was backed by 51.6 percent of likely voters at the time, while Trump was found to have the support of 42.9 percent—giving the former vice president a lead of more than 8 percentage points.
The Democratic nominee’s falling lead over Trump in the new Optimus poll does not align with FiveThirtyEight’s average of national presidential polls.
According to the survey tracker, Biden’s lead over Trump has consistently hovered at roughly eight points since late April.
Real Clear Politics’ average of national head-to-head polls also puts the former vice president a solid 9 points ahead of the president.
In the latest Optimus poll, Biden was found to have a wider lead over Trump among all Americans, rather than just likely voters. Forty percent of all U.S. adults told pollsters they would vote for Biden if an election were held the same day, while only 30 percent said the same of Trump.
The president polled at a little under 37 percent when the same survey was conducted between June 9 and June 16—a full 7 points up on his position today.
Trump’s slump in the new survey came as a little more than 6 in 10 Americans said they either strongly or somewhat disapproved of the president’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
There was also little optimism about the state of the U.S. economy, an issue the president typically polls well on. Twenty-nine percent of voters said they expected the economy to improve, while a little less than four in 10 (38 percent) felt it would get worse, and 25 percent believed it would remain the same.
Asked to describe the state of the U.S. economy, almost 70 percent of voters said it was either in a poor or “only fair” condition. By comparison, a little over 30 percent believed the economy was in an “excellent” or good place.
The new Optimus poll surveyed 999 U.S. adults between June 23 and June 27. Its margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.