Biden vs Trump: Highlights from the first presidential debate.
He may have won a personal battle against the coronavirus, but Donald Trump is tipped to take an absolute hammering in the US presidential election on November 3.
It has been a rollercoaster week for the President, whose chaotic performance at the first presidential debate was followed by a Covid-19 diagnosis and an apparent recovery marked by theatrics.
However, the polls have only been heading in one direction, and it's not pretty reading for the Republican camp.
Trump's Democratic rival now leads by a massive 9.4 points, according to the Real Clear Politics national average of all major US polls. That is up from 6.3 points just seven days ago, when the first presidential debate took place.
Donald Trump's (pictured) Democratic rival, Joe Biden, now leads by a massive 9.4 points, according to the Real Clear Politics national average of all major US polls. Photo / AP
Some polls, such as the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, show much larger gains for Joe Biden. Some show he is up to 14 points ahead.
RCP has also looked at the key battleground states and found that Biden is leading in states such as Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio, which were once expected to be easy wins for Trump. They show Biden is now surging ahead by 4.7 points in those crucial parts of the country.
In simple terms, unless Trump can drastically turn things around in four weeks, he is on track to lose the election by a landslide.
However, Trump's supporters, and the President himself, have insisted that what we're seeing is a case of deja vu.
They say nobody gave Trump a chance in the 2016 election, but the polls ultimately turned out to be wrong.
President Donald Trump throws hats to supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Minnesota. Photo / AP
Nevertheless, the signs for Trump are a lot worse this time around.
Hillary Clinton never had a lead even close to this size over Trump in 2016, and the Republican candidate actually overtook her twice.
This year, Trump has not narrowed the gap with Biden to less than 4 points at any point in the campaign.
In 2016, Trump was also given a boost 10 days before the election by the timing of FBI director James Comey's decision to reopen the probe into the Clinton email saga.
Trump has hit back at America's polls on several occasions, accusing them of being "fake" and masterminded by the "fake news media".
Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!! The Fake News only shows the Fake Polls.
It's not just dire polling numbers he has to contend with ahead of election day. While the nation's economy struggles to recover from Covid-19, shutdowns have left countless families and businesses struggling.
Trump's exit from the hospital, like much of his handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 people in the US, also sparked controversy.
Just after stepping off a helicopter at the White House, he climbed the stairs of his residence and pulled off his face mask.
"Don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it," he urged Americans in his homecoming speech.
By Wednesday, his doctors reported the President had been free of Covid-19 symptoms for 24 hours and had not had a fever in four days.
Trump followed up with a bombastic video outside the White House, where he spruiked a new virus "cure" and said his infection was a "blessing from god".
"Perhaps you recognise me, it's your favourite President," he said before praising America's doctors and nurses. "We have great people, just a great country."
Trump said that when he was taken to hospital last week he "wasn't feeling so hot", but that quickly changed thanks a new type of treatment. He said an experimental antibody cocktail produced by biotech company Regeneron, that has rarely been used outside clinical trials, was a "cure" for coronavirus.
Trump has vowed to return to the campaign trail shortly.
