Biden up by 12 points among registered voters nationally: poll

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads President Trump by 12 points among registered voters, according to a national ABC News-Washington Post poll released Monday.

Biden has the support of 53 percent of registered voters surveyed while Trump has the backing of 41 percent. Biden is up by 10 points, 54 to 44 percent, among likely voters, according to the poll.

The survey also shows Biden voters narrowing the enthusiasm gap with Trump supporters. The percentage of Biden supporters who said they are very enthusiastic about their candidate has grown from 28 percent in March to 48 percent, but it still lags the 65 percent of Trump supporters who say they are very enthusiastic about the president.

Most voters — 54 percent — approve of Biden’s choice of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate, while 29 percent do not. Fifty-four percent also said they believe Harris would be prepared to step into the role of president if necessary. While early Republican lines of attack against Harris cast her as too liberal, only 33 percent of respondents agree with that characterization.

Harris is the only person on either ticket with majority favorability. Fifty-two percent have a favorable opinion of the California senator, compared to 50 percent for Biden, 44 percent for Vice President Pence and 42 percent for Trump.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents disapprove of the president’s pandemic response, pollsters found, compared to 55 percent who disapprove of his performance overall.

Almost 7 in 10 respondents — 68 percent — said the economy is in poor or not-so-good shape, a nearly six-year high and double those who gave it negative marks in November 2018. Seventy-nine percent of those who describe the economy as excellent or good are Trump supporters, while 70 percent who give it negative ratings support Biden.

However, voters are nearly evenly split on whether the economy would be better with Biden in office. Thirty-two percent said it would be, while 35 percent said it would be worse and 30 percent said it would be about the same. Voters said they believe Biden would handle the pandemic better by a 22-point margin, health care by 13 points and race relations by 26 points. Thirty-two percent of voters also said crime would be worse under Biden, compared to 25 percent who say it would be better.

Pollsters surveyed 1,001 adults by landline and cellphone from Aug. 12 to 15. The results a 3.5-point margin of error.