REBEKA ZELJKO
Former President Donald Trump has widened his lead in several polls following President Joe Biden’s much maligned debate performance on Thursday, including in two surveys from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times released on Wednesday.
Trump had been steadily leading in all six swing states and nationally over the last few months, according to RealClearPolling averages. But after Biden stumbled through the first presidential debate, Trump has managed to widen his lead in at least five polls, including his largest lead recorded in the New York Times Times/Siena poll since 2015.
Among registered voters, Trump has widened his lead to eight points with 49% preferring Trump and 41% preferring Biden, according to the New York Times/Siena poll. Across likely voters, Trump leads by six points, with Trump garnering 49% and Biden 43% support.
Trump has taken a six point lead over Biden nationally, polling at 48% compared to 42% for Biden, according to The Wall Street Journal poll.
“Joe Biden was defending a failed record that is not just his,” John McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster and CEO of McLaughlin & Associates, the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It applies to the entire Democratic Party and any other candidate that they’re talking about putting up on the ticket.”
Biden is trailing Trump by six points, which is a 0.8 point decrease from his pre-debate poll numbers, according to an internal Democrat poll from Open Labs that was leaked Tuesday. Trump also increased his lead by three points, polling at 41% while Biden trails at 38%, in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday. Prior to the debate, Trump and Biden were tied at 37% in the poll.
Trump’s successful policies, whether it’s securing the border, keeping the world at peace, low inflation, having an economic recovery and optimism, [the Democrats] have trashed it, and the country knows,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “Unless the Democrats decide before Chicago that they’re going to turn around all their failed policies, they will lose in November.”
“I think in the wake of last week’s debate performance, it’s entirely possible for states to shift,” Jon McHenry, GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, told the DCNF.
Biden’s numbers have also slipped in key states, according to the Open Labs poll. Biden’s previous lead in New Mexico and Virginia flipped in favor of Trump following the debate, while Trump continues to lead in states like New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
“The swing states from last cycle like Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina have been shifting to former President Trump with consistent mid-to-high single-digit leads, and the old swing states like New Hampshire, Virginia, and New Mexico that have been consistently Democratic for the last several cycles may become more competitive,” McHenry told the DCNF.
Biden’s dismal post-debate polling was reflected in voters’ attitudes toward the president, according to the Open Labs poll. Based on what they have heard about Biden over the last week, an all-time low of 27% of voters say they think of him more favorably.
In the aftermath of the debate, voters are calling for Biden to drop out from the race. Nearly half of Democratic voters said they want to see Biden replaced as the nominee, according to a Morning Consult poll released on Friday; several pundits and publications have expressed similar sentiments.
“Unless the Democrat party decides to repudiate the radical failed policies they put in place, they’re going to lose,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “All they’re doing is changing the captain on the Titanic.”
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