Donald Trump has reduced his polling lead on Joe Biden in three battleground states, according to new surveys.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is set to face the incumbent president in November, and polls have so far predicted that the results of the 2020 White House rematch will be tight—with the pair statistically tied or holding only marginal leads in a number of surveys.
However, in three swing states there are signs that Biden has marginally increased his support since participating in the first presidential debate, despite giving what was seen as a poor performance.
During the debate, Biden gave a series of incoherent and confusing responses and appeared to trail off at times without finishing his sentences. He has since received calls from within his party to end his reelection bid and allow Democrats to install a new candidate for the general election. Biden's odds of victory against Trump have also slumped with bookmakers.
Nevertheless, in Georgia, he has increased his share of the vote by 0.9 percent since the debate, though the Republican Party is still ahead by 3.5 percent.
In Michigan, he has increased his vote share by 0.8 percent making him ahead of Trump by 0.4 percent, and in North Carolina he has also increased his vote share by 0.8 percent, though the Republicans are still ahead by 4 percent.
Newsweek contacted Biden and Trump's campaigns by email to comment on this story.
Surveys like these are significant due to the Electoral College system, which awards each state a certain number of votes based on population.
Biden flipped Georgia from Donald Trump by 11,779 votes, or 0.24 percent of the 5 million ballots cast, making Trump the first Republican to lose the state in decades.
North Carolina has voted for the Republican candidate in 10 of the last 11 elections, with former President Barack Obama winning the state in 2008. But Trump only won there by 1.3 percent of the vote in 2020—his narrowest state win—and North Carolina often elects Democratic governors. Seven of its last eight gubernatorial contests have gone blue.
In 2016, Trump took Michigan, but Biden flipped it back to blue in 2020. Democrats have won the state in seven of the last eight presidential contests.
A presidential candidate must secure 270 electoral votes for victory, and winning the national popular vote does not guarantee success.
However, with some four months to go until the election, it is still too early to call it, and other polls have suggested that the two candidates are tied or that Trump is in the lead.
A second presidential debate between the 2024 candidates is scheduled for September 10. Then, voters will go to the polls on November 5.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
