Biden leads Trump by nearly 40 points in California: poll

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leads President Trump by nearly 40 points in California, according to a new poll. 

Biden has the support of 67 percent of Golden State respondents in the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, while Trump has the support of just 28 percent, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

Biden’s support in the state is not surprising, but the former vice president has an even wider lead in the poll than the 30-point margin by which Hillary Clinton beat Trump in the state four years ago.

Moreover, the poll found Trump’s approval has dipped down to just 29 percent, according to the Times. The president’s support had reportedly held steady in the mid-to-low 30 percent range for nearly his entire tenure in office. 

Trump’s decrease in support was mostly among voters who identified themselves as moderate conservatives, dropping 11 points since January, from 76 percent to 65 percent, according to the Times. 

“There was a question of whether his support was already so low in the state that it couldn’t go lower,” Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler, co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies, told the newspaper. 

Schickler said the poll “shows the answer is no.”

Biden’s widening lead is not restricted to California. Recent polls, less than 100 days out from November’s election, have shown the Democrat leading Trump nationally, as well as in a number of key swing states. 

Both candidates will look to gain support in the upcoming conventions, although both have shifted to virtual formats amid the coronavirus pandemic. Biden has yet to name the running mate who will join him in accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination, but has said he will be selecting one soon. 

The new poll found support for two California Democrats said to be on Biden’s list of potential running mates, Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Karen Bass. Democratic voters approved Harris, 68 percent to 20 percent, with 12 percent expressing no opinion, according to the Times. For Bass, Democratic voters expressed support 46 percent to 10 percent, with 44 percent expressing no opinion. 

The poll was administered online in English and Spanish from July 21-27 among 8,328 registered voters, 6,756 of whom are considered likely to vote in the November election. The margin of error for the full sample is roughly 2 percentage points, according to the Times. 

The Hill has reached out to Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.