Alwaght- Hopeful US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has a ten percentage points lead over President Donald Trump nationally with less than two months before the November 3 election, A new opinion poll shows.
The CBS News-YouGov poll, released on Sunday, found that 52 percent of registered voters favored Biden while just 42 percent said they would support the Republican incumbent.
The poll found 3 percent said they are “not sure” who they would vote for, and 3 percent said they would vote for someone else, a small party candidate.
Forty-nine percent of participants said the main reason for their vote for the former US vice president in November is “mainly to oppose” Trump, while 32 percent said it is “mainly because” they like Biden.
Meanwhile, 73 percent of Trump supporters said their vote is “mainly because” they like the president and just 18 percent saying it is “mainly to oppose” Biden.
The poll found voters split on who Americans feel would do a better job handling the economy, with 44 percent saying Biden and 45 percent selecting Trump.
Fifty percent of participants said the former US vice president was better suited to handle the current health crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, while just 38 percent said the same of Trump.
Asked who they would trust to make sure a safe coronavirus vaccine is available in America, 47 percent said Biden and 34 percent said Trump.
The survey also showed that Biden leads Trump by 8 percentage points on handling race relations.
Forty-seven percent of voters said they think Trump is trying to “encourage the fighting” in the US, and just 39 percent said the president is trying to “calm the situation.”
Forty-nine percent of people said they think Biden is trying to “calm the situation,” and just 30 percent said they think he is trying to “encourage fighting."
A CNBC poll released last month found the former US vice president leading the incumbent in five of six battleground states, including Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The decline in national support for Trump can be explained by the president's chaotic handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken a heavy toll on American lives and economy.
The United States remains the worst-hit country by the pandemic, with over 6.29 million infections and more than 189,000 deaths.
Trump and his administration have been under fire for an untimely relaxing of lockdown measures as well as a blatant disregard for personal protection equipment since the flu-like pathogen erupted in the US early in January.
Moreover, police violence and racial injustice protests that followed the brutal murder of unarmed African American George Floyd in police custody have dealt a heavy blow to the president's approval rating.
The 46-year-old died after a white officer knelt on his neck and pinned him to the ground for nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.
His death unleashed protests against police brutality and for racial justice in the US and many world countries, with protesters saying they were hopeful that Floyd's death would mark a turning point in race relations and police reform the US.
