Former Vice President Joe Biden expanded his lead over President Trump during a tumultuous week in which the first presidential debate took place and the commander in chief tested positive for COVID-19.
The results of a CNN survey of 1,095 registered voters, which was published on Tuesday, revealed that 56% say they back Biden, while 41% hope to see four more years of Trump.
The 16 percentage point advantage for Biden is the largest he’s held over the president during the entire 2020 general election cycle, and it comes a week after the two politicians faced off in the first of three presidential debates. And the polling, which occurred from Oct. 1-4, began the day after the president announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. The margin of error for total respondents is 3.3 percentage points.
The respondents also said they felt Biden “would better handle” as president the issues of the economy (50%-48%), COVID-19 (59%-39%), healthcare (59%-39%), racial inequalities in the United States (62%-36%), Supreme Court nominations (57%-41%), and crime and safety (55%-43%).
In the previous poll of registered voters conducted by CNN, which took place from Aug. 28-Sept. 1, the former vice president’s lead was approximately half of what it is during the October version. Biden led 51%-43% at the time, and that lead was twice as large as the Democrat’s 50%-46% lead on a survey they conducted from Aug. 12-15.
Biden has had a polling advantage over the president dating back to the Democratic primary.
Major upcoming events scheduled prior to Election Day include the vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris, which is scheduled for Wednesday, and two more scheduled presidential debates.
