Joe Biden has opened up a big lead on Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Party presidential race, and has an 11-point lead on President Trump with an eye to November.
This from a new poll out Monday from Quinnipiac University, which has Biden with a 54 percent-35 percent lead on Sanders in the Democratic race, and a 52 percent-41 percent lead on President Trump in an early look at the general election.
Biden, who served as vice president under Barack Obama from 2009-2017, was all but dead politically a week and a half ago, as Sanders, the Vermont senator and runner-up in the 2016 Democratic nomination race, rolled to wins in New Hampshire and Nevada, and a second-place finish in Iowa.
But then Biden won handily in South Carolina, ahead of a realignment of the race on Super Tuesday.
“It’s down to two, and looks very much like the Biden resurgence could be a fatal blow to the Sanders revolution,” Quinnipiac University Poll Analyst Tim Malloy said.
Biden is viewed as more electable than Sanders. Eighty percent of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic say it is either very likely (36 percent) or somewhat likely (44 percent) that Biden would win against President Trump; 61 percent say it is either very likely (20 percent) or somewhat likely (41 percent) that Sanders would win against Trump.
In head-to-head matchups with Trump among registered voters, Biden gets support from more than half of registered voters against the incumbent president, while Sanders, who has a 49 percent-42 percent lead on the president, does not.
Looking at favorabilities among registered voters, Biden is by far the most favorably viewed. Biden is viewed favorably by 45 percent and unfavorably by 40 percent, while Sanders gets a negative 40 percent-46 percent favorability rating. Trump is the least popular of the three candidates with a negative 39 percent-58 percent favorability rating.
Both Biden and Sanders beat Trump on the question of who would do a better job handling a crisis. Biden beats Trump 56 percent-40 percent on this question, while Sanders tops Trump 50 percent-44 percent.
“Perhaps most troubling for the Trump camp in these numbers is the comparative assessment of which candidate can handle a crisis: it is Biden hands down. Couple that with an approval rating frozen in the low forties and comparatively terrible numbers on leadership, honesty, and empathy for fellow Americans, and team Trump has a formidable fight ahead,” Malloy said.
Story by Chris Graham
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