A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump neither has “the intelligence” nor “the mental soundness” to “serve effectively as president,” according to a Fox News poll released on Sunday.
The national poll, conducted July 12-15 with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points, found that 52 percent do not think Trump has the intelligence to serve as president while 51 percent do not believe Trump has the “mental soundness” to be in the White House. Just 42 percent think Trump has the intelligence to be president while 43 believe has the mental soundness to be president.
Despite Trump’s attempts to make the election about former Vice President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, 51 percent still believe Biden has the “intelligence” to be president while 36 percent believe he does not. The poll found that 47 percent believe Biden has the “mental soundness” to be president compared to 39 percent who think he lacks the the mental soundness to be in the White House.
A majority also believe Biden has the judgment to serve effectively as president while a majority think Trump does not.
Trump’s poll numbers–and his standing in the most critical swing states–have plummeted as his approval rating on his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic has cratered since he began rambling at the coronavirus press conferences in March.
His re-election chances are increasingly tied to his Coronavirus approval rating, which has hit an all-time low. The Fox News poll found that Americans trust Biden by a 17-point margin to better deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.
Trump’s low Coronavirus approval rating has put Biden in a position to win record-levels of support in the suburbs for a Democrat, and it has also cut into the president’s support with one of the most important swing constituencies—white Catholics.
A Washington Post-ABC poll released over the weekend found that Trump has been losing support with white Catholics since March, when Trump led Biden by 13 points among this critical group. That lead is now down to just four points (51 percent to 47 percent). As ABC noted, “Trump won white Catholics by 61-37% in 2016.”
On Monday, Trump announced that he will be bringing back the daily Coronavirus briefings starting on Tuesday afternoon.