President Biden managed to gain ground on former President Donald Trump in key battleground states and trails by only 2% — even after his disastrous debate performance last week, a new poll shows.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, leads Democrat Biden 47% to 45%, in the crucial states needed to win the November election, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult tracking poll released Saturday.
It’s the smallest gap since the poll began in October.
Although Biden is losing in Pennsylvania, the state where he grew up, he now leads Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin.
He’s also within the poll’s statistical margin of error in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina — though he trails in those states.
Of the registered voters polled, nearly three in 10 Democrats said Biden should drop out of the race — far more than the 9% of Republicans who said Trump should do the same.
The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll’s findings differ from some national polls, which showed a worsening picture for Biden following the June 27 debate, in which the president gave incoherent answers and appeared to stumble over his words.
Swing-state voters thought Biden did poorly, according to the poll, with fewer than one in five saying the 81-year-old was the more coherent, mentally fit or dominant participant.
The poll was conducted four days after the Trump-Biden showdown— later than some national polls — giving voters more time to evaluate Biden’s shaky performance.
With Post wires