A plurality of voters trust Joe Biden over President Trump to manage the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll, giving the presumptive Democratic nominee a lead on a critical campaign issue.
Forty-two percent of voters trust Biden more than Trump to handle the challenges posed by the coronavirus, compared to 35% who trust the president the most, a Morning Consult survey that was conducted for Politico found. Additionally, the poll showed that the former vice president is viewed as better at crisis leadership than Trump, 44% to 38%. With more than 92,000 U.S. citizens dead and over 35 million jobless because of the pandemic, these metrics could prove decisive on Election Day.
Biden gained 4 points since mid-March in Morning Consult polling on the issue of who is more trusted to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Trump ticked down 3 points. Since mid-March, even as Trump has dominated headlines and presented himself as a wartime president.
Simultaneously, Trump is now fighting Biden to a draw on who is more trusted to deal with China. Forty percent trust Biden the most, and 38% trust the president. The Trump campaign is making China a key issue in the campaign, saying that the former vice president has a history of appeasing Beijing and cannot be trusted to hold the Asian power accountable for the spread of the coronavirus. So far, it appears Trump has some work to do to make that argument stick.
