Biden vs Trump: Highlights from the first presidential debate.
With the presidential election just over two weeks away, Joe Biden is pulling away from Donald Trump according to the latest opinion polls released on Sunday.
The surveys, one taken following last week's chaotic presidential debate and the other after Trump was tested positive for Covid-19, make grim reading for the US president as he undergoes treatment for the virus at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
A post-debate poll conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal put Biden 14 points ahead of the president, the biggest gap the survey has recorded this year.
President Donald Trump walking from Marine One to the White House after returning from Minnesota. AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Should the findings prove accurate, Biden could be heading for a landslide victory. But four years ago an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken just over three weeks ahead of the election gave Hillary Clinton a 14-point lead.
Joe Biden’s national lead over President Trump nearly doubled after Tuesday’s presidential debate, with voters saying by a 2-to-1 margin that Biden has the better temperament to be president, according to a new NBC News/WSJ poll. https://t.co/aZHl54yEm4
Alarmingly for Trump, a second survey, taken after it was announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19, showed little sign of public sympathy for the president.
According to a Reuters-Ipsos poll, which saw Biden's lead widen to 10 points, 65 per cent of voters believed that Trump could have avoided being infected if he had taken the coronavirus pandemic more seriously. That view was held by 50 per cent of Republicans.
A hoarse and pale Donald Trump thanking medical staff and giving an update on his condition. Photo / Twitter, @realDonaldTrump
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week as voters digested the fallout from the presidential debate in which Trump faced criticism for his combative approach in which he interrupted Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace at least 128 times.
Jeff Horwitt, a Democrat and one of the pollsters, declared Biden the clear loser.
The other pollster, Bill McInturff who is a Republican, believed the surge in Biden's support represented what he described as a "shock to the system" following the anarchic events of Tuesday night.
He suggested that Biden's lead would probably drop back to between eight and nine points by election day, which would still leave Trump in considerable trouble.
The detailed findings of the poll contained some particularly alarming news for Republican strategists, showing a haemorrhage in support from the key groups of voters who swept Trump to victory four years ago.
The president, who held a 13-point lead over Biden among men over 50 in the poll taken before the debate, found himself one point behind according to the latest survey.
Seniors now back the former vice-president by a substantial 27 points and the poll also showed Biden enjoying the support of 58 per cent of suburban women, compared to Trump's 33 per cent.
The president's support has also weakened among white working-class men who are of pivotal importance in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In all, 49 per cent of voters believed Biden won the debate, compared with 24 per cent who believed that the president had outperformed his opponent.
Biden was also found to have displayed the right temperament by 58 per cent of voters, compared to 26 per cent of respondents who favoured Trump.
A majority of voters have a positive view of Biden - for the first time since 2018.
A second poll, which was conducted by Reuters and Ipsos on Friday and Saturday, put Biden 10 points ahead of Trump, slightly higher than other recent surveys.
Joe Biden, speaking in Michigan on October 2, 2020, has pulled further ahead, according to polls. AP Photo / Andrew Harnik
It showed that the former vice president was backed by 51 per cent of likely voters on November 3.
The findings also showed that voters were unhappy about the administration's handling of the coronavirus epidemic, which has claimed more than 211,000 lives in the US.
In all, 57 per cent of respondents disapproved of Trump's handling of Covid-19 and only 34 per cent believed the president had been telling the truth about the virus while 55 per cent said he was not.
There was more alarming news for Trump in a series of polls taken in key battleground states.
A CBS News/YouGov poll put Biden seven points ahead in Pennsylvania and the two candidates tied in Ohio.
A New York Times/Siena poll on Saturday also gave Biden a seven-point lead in Pennsylvania and also showed him enjoying a five-point lead in Florida.
